How to write a Strike Witches Fanfic
by Bucue
Summary: If you have ever wondered how to write a Strike Witches Fanfic but was unsure how to start writing one, or have been writing for Strike Witches and need pointers in how to improve your story then I welcome and offer to you to this helpful guide. From the Author of Witches Rangers and the 141 comes a written, digital tome of knowledge in how to Write a good strike Witches Fanfic.
1. Chapter 1: Research

**When it comes to the art of writing there are some who find the allure of authorship to be appealing: to craft a world and characters to tell a story for those living in the world around you. As an author myself it is a craft that I take pride and joy in. It's a hallowed act that gives me happiness and fulfillment in both in following through on the creative process and also see the impact it has on people. And while there are a great many impactful anime out there, one of the most impactful anime in my mind is Strike Witches: no other anime has had me feel so invested, so passionate, or even I dare say obsessed with it as Strike Witches has. However, there are both new and inexperienced authors who have approached me and asked how they could best craft a good fanfic story featuring Strike Witches.**

**And as far as fanfics for a series go, Strike Witches fanfiction is a series that has many authors I have seen and have been approached by who struggle or are unsure of how to best write of a narrative involving this unique, original and amazing series. To be quite frank, quite a number of Strike Witches fics fall flat over time or are complete failures at launch. With that in mind I have decided to craft this guide in how fanfiction writers can best craft a Strike Witches fanfic. Having written stories for over seven years, I humbly offer my knowledge to my peers so they too can learn the tools and rules and develop the skills and qualities to craft a good Strike Witches Fic.**

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Chapter 1: Research

Before an author does anything; before they bring up their word document and start typing errantly about whatever series they enjoy, they must first acquaint themselves with some of the important, basic rules of writing. The first rule that any writer worth his salt must know is Research: a good writer must always research the subject and material they are going to write about. Any story to be written must be properly researched so as events and scenarios depicted are accurate and realistic to the subject and genre being written in, and that is quadrupley true for war stories.

War stories feature the age old tail of conflict of arms: standing armies trading blows on the battlefield. It is a story filled with drama, action, suspense, nightmares, heartache, terror, horror, courage, honor, duty, barbarity, and often questions the morality of warriors in battle and even the act of warfare itself. It's a subject that is demanding of respect due to the scale, scope and subject matter. For an author writing a war story it is required that they research everything regarding military life and warfare. Everything from military history, strategy, tactics, military law, military culture, weapons of war, wars impact on the psychology of soldiers; everything. All things regarding military life and warfare must be researched. Readers of military stories have very critical eyes for detail and look for researched stories that are able to maintain a sense of immersion.

You must show that you as a writer know what you are talking about in your story otherwise you will find that your target audience will find glaring errors that will make things difficult for the readers to stay invested in the story. You can't have surface fired anti-tank rockets easily taking down aircraft, you cant have a A-10 Thunderbolt dog fighting with an F15, nor can you have an early twenty-something year old admiral leading an entire carrier fleet after spending two years in the navy. Stuff like this is egregiously unrealistic, breaks any sense of immersion for the readers and shows that the writer has done no research into the stories subject, and can also be construed as they didn't care enough about either the subject nor the story to do said research.

Strike Witches is ultimately at its core a war story. And seeing as it's a war story that is set during the timeframe of the Second World War, all matters regarding WW2 are to be researched, from the formation of troops, tanks, ships and aircraft, the weapons fielded and their abilities, Second World war tactics and strategy, slang and vernacular used during the time period, the trends of the time and everything regarding life during the late 1930's to the entirety of the 1940's.

But research for a Strike Witches story doesn't stop there...

You must of course also research the Cannon material of the series that you intend to write about itself. If you want to write a true Strike Witches fic: you must research every facet of strike witches source material. And not simply what we see of the Anime or movie either: there are doujinshi, light novels, expanded materials and other such resources that come directly from the creator and author Humikane Shimada or material that has been endorsed as cannon by Humikane Shimada himself: such cases of the latter include examples of Tiger in the Desert, Witch in Africa, Witches of the Sphinx, One Wing Witches, Witch of Capuzzo, Witches of Andorra and other such stories.

While each of these will be addressed in future chapters in greater detail, other important things to research are witches, striker units, magic, Neuroi, the Strike Witches World, the culture of the world and what the nature of Human on Neuroi warfare entails and is like. Again, the best thing that you as a writer can do is Research EVERYTHING. It may take time researching everything required to write a Strike Witches Fic, but it is to be seen as an investment. Investing the time and effort to research the source material and historical references will greatly enhance and improve your stories by leaps and bounds.

I go out of my way to research and cross reference information regarding warfare and Strike Witches from multiple sources in order to craft an entertaining and realistic experience... or at least as realistic as Magical girls with magi-tech on their legs and no pants carrying big guns to fight laser shooting, regenerating machine aliens during the 1940's can be. If I didn't take time to research everything required for the subjects that I write my stories would not nearly be as good. As a writer it is my responsibility to research what I am going to write, as is the responsibility of any writer really.

And for a war story the responsibility is the greatest: although I write about factious characters in a war setting; real people and real soldiers have died in real wars, and I feel like I owe it to them that when I write about a war story that I treat and handle the subject with humility and respect. To not do the research of military life and of warfare shows apathy for the lives of those who had to live though, participate in or experience in general; warfare and battles in combat zones, as well as being disrespectful of those who lost their lives during times of war.

And on top of that, I also has a responsibility as a Fan of Strike Witches that I research the series at length and in depth. I love and respect the series so much that I want to ensure that I don't end up hurting, derailing, defiling and disrespecting the series, characters and world that I so love with a passion. Thusly, I spend a great deal of time researching everything before write If there is something I don't know of: I research it. If do know something, I look back at references to refresh and confirm that my information is correct and up to date, maybe even expand upon what I already know.

As authors we must research, research, _always _research; to ensure that everything is grounded in accurate fact and realistically depicted. If we don't we have to work with a weak starting story that will grow brittle and crack, if not outright break overtime. The Paradox Timeline is one such example of what happens when someone doesn't do research: American, British, French Japanese and Russian ships all amassed to participate in a training exercise even despite this being extremely unlikely if not impossible for reasons of logistics and global, geo-political issues, Air force aircraft launched off of Navy Carriers when it should be Navel aviation aircraft launching from said craft, a single supply ship supposedly supplying munitions for several dozen ships, originating from various nations and all with differing types of munitions and fuel types, not to mention use of clear costly Hollywood tactics. The fact that 50,000 men and witches are KIA, Armored loss at around 10,000, and half of the air force wings destroyed... and it's declared a crushing victory when in actually would be a resounding, catastrophic defeat that would be almost impossible to recover from. In reality these examples show a lack of attention to detail of events, logistics, military structure, strategy, ect. Also the fact the protagonist's history towards his first love interest has quite a few issues involving military laws regarding relationships in the military but also the fact that the woman he loved was tortured, raped, machine-gunned to death and her corpse left to rot in his cell for months and somehow he shows little to no emotion or crippling psychological damage as a result is also unrealistic, showing a lack of research in both military protocol and the psychology of soldiers and warfare and on the subject of PTSD.

Understand when I site this story and the examples therein it is not to "flame" or "bash on" but simply to educate and cite as an example to avoid emulating. Because the authors research in this story is questionable if not outright non-existent, it shows how little care and thought was put into the story, which I hope gets better for both said author and my peers in the Strike Witches Fanfics. There are other examples that suffer from lack of research but The Paradox Timeline is a rather well known example of such a hang up.

Ultimately what I'm trying to say is that for any story a writer intends to craft: the first and most important thing to do is to conduct as much research and homework as possible. In this day and age of information and the convenience of technology has made it easier for us to educate ourselves in all manner of subjects, so there is no excuse at all for any writer to not conduct any researching sessions for their stories.

Lack of research hurts and can evil kill stories. To strengthen and enhance stories AND help build strong foundations: research the subject matter, the genre and the source material. I can assure you that anytime spent researching will not be time wasted. See research sessions as an investment that will provide great returns... with interest. and in war story's; researching the subject and genre is pretty much required, if not mandatory. Because in a subject as serous and much-fasciated as war, it must be carefully studied. And for a Strike Witches fic this still holds true: the Strike Witches wiki is one great place to find the information you need to better conduct research into the Strike Witches Characters, world and the series in general.

Take heed of this passage for Sun Tzu's the Art of War as a bit of sound advice on the topic of Research: "If you know the enemy and know thyself: you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know thyself, but not the enemy; for every victory gained, you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy of thyself: you will succumb in every battle."

So take heed my fellow writers: Always do Research. It will help you and your stories in the long run, it will make your stories more engaging and believable and your readers will notice and appreciate the time, care and effort you put into the large and small details. You have access to libraries, books, television and the internet as reservoirs of comprehensive compendiums of knowledge. They will be indispensable tools in your arsenal as a writer. And if you can get information from first hand sources then that's even better. A writer has an obligation to know that he/she is writing about, so be sure to take that responsibility to stay well informed and educated.

However, as a digression, it's important to also remember to be sure that any research doesn't end up overshadowing your story writing. It's all well and good, encouraged and applauded to research for the story you intend to write (accuracy is important in your work after all), but it's also important that you also remember to write to begin with. It's advised that you start with a basic foundation of research information to get started and while you write and as you start to get into particular details relevant to your story that you supplement your foundation of knowledge with a little extra information here and their so your able to best represent what you intend to display in your work. And remember to make sure you research what you know you need when you need it and that what you show serves a narrative objective outside of showing off your knowledge.

Spending endless, endless hours doing far more research than you do writing will be overwhelming and overloading, will burn you out and take up very large amounts of time, and it will be time your investing that once spent you will not get back. It's important to clarify that I'm not saying you shouldn't do research much or at all, but i am saying be sure your researching what will be of key importance for your story or at least some relevance to the story you intend to write and that you pace yourself carefully.

Doing these things to help keep you as a writer and bring out your story will require feeling out a good balance between both the research and writing but finding that perfect balance will be vital to your repertoire as a writer and been a potent tool in your writing arsenal.

Do Research for your story: it's the best favor you can do for your audience, your story, your characters, your favorite series and more importantly: for yourself. And don't forget to apply that knowledge and write your story while doing so. Balance is key.

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**And so ends the first chapter of the guide. This will be a bit of a project, so I'll be taking a partial hiatus on some of my writing projects to work on this guide since I'm often approached by people asking for help.**

**Their will be Twenty chapters total that will go into detail of specific subjects. I have provided a chapter list below so everyone knows how many chapters this will be and what topics will be covered in the guide. I hope this helps everyone. Thanks so much for the support and as always; stay frosty.**

**Chapter List (Updated):**

**Chapter 1: Research **

**Chapter 2: Rules of Good Writing**

**Chapter 3: Writer Mindset**

**Chapter 4: The Witches**

**Chapter 5: Magic, Magical Science, and Physics**

**Chapter 6: Striker Technology**

**Chapter 7: The Neuroi**

**Chapter 8: The World Part 1: History**

**Chapter 9: The World Part 2: Geography**

**Chapter 10: The World Part 3: Culture , Politics and Society**

**Bonus Chapter 1: Familiars, Spirits and Creatures of Myth, Folklore and Legend.**

**Chapter 11: Witch/Conventional Forces Part 1: 1940's Era; The Second Neruoi War.  
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**Chapter 12: Witch/******Conventional** Forces Part 2: Modern Era; Cold Winter: 1947, War of The Empty Desert Region 1950-1953, Vanran war 1955-1975, The Gulf Neuroi War and beyond.  
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**Bonus Chapter 2: ****** Witch/Conventional Forces: **The First Neruoi War, 1914-1917.**

**Bonus Chapter 3: The Ancient History of the Strike Witches World **

**Chapter 13: Crafting Original Characters (OC's) Part 1: OC Witches, Soldiers and Civilians**

**Chapter 14: Crafting Original Characters (OC's) Part 2: How to avoid the dangers of Gary Stu's and Mary Sue's**

**Chapter 15: Plot**

**Chapter 16: Heterosexual Relationships**

**Chapter 17: Homosexual/Lesbian Relationships**

**Bonus Chapter 4: Bisexual Characters, Polyandrous Relationships and Asexuals**

**Chapter 18: Loli Witches and characters that romance them.**

**Bonus Chapter 5: X-11 Witch Type Neruoi/Human-form Neruoi, the facts, theory's and potential.**

**Chapter 19: Stressors in combat, PTSD and Soldiers heart.**

**Chapter 20: Writing Strike Witches Crossovers**


	2. Chapter 2: Rules of Good Writing

Chapter 2: Rules of Good Writing

When it comes to writing in either Strike Witches Fanfics or any story for that matter; there are a few important rules to carrying out the hallowed art of the written word that a writer must keep in mind. Such rules are common sense and vital if you intend to craft an engaging, well written, well paced story. In this chapter I will be covering several important rules and common sense tips and pointers that will greatly benefit you and your story.

One of the big rules to good writing that I hear from experienced and even professional, published authors, is that you have one paragraph to do whatever you want (if you pardon the expression), so make sure you say something that can draw your readers in, so make sure to make it count. What that saying means is: make sure you start your story off with a strong, engaging, captivating first paragraph that demands your readers attention. Although in fanfics that if you want to stay true to the story you have to stay aware of the series, the verse and the characters if you intend to craft a good story, but even with these elements in play and working with what you've got, make sure you do so in as strong a manner as possible. The moment you capture the audience's attention by the first paragraph you will have their undivided attention, so start out strong, come out original (or as original as you can be), and as always be creative to get the reader hooked from the outset. Weak starts to your story won't be keeping your readers attention long if at all, so make sure you open up with a way to grab their attention from that first paragraph. Do that and you'll have their attention, at that point you keep them interested and entertained with your story.

Another of the rules to writing a good story is that you must always take time to proof-read and spell-check your story. This is kind of a basic one but is still important regardless: good spelling, grammar, sentence structure and overall mechanics will vastly strengthen your story by leaps and bounds. Spell check often, find others who have more experience in beta reading to provide feedback, editing and overall ironing out the details and it will more often than not keep your story from being weighed down and weakened. It will be hard for your audience to read through clunky dialogue, an ocean of miss-spellings and dodgy story mechanics.

Making sure to keep a story well paced is also of importance. A story's narrative shouldn't be too short and fast, but neither should it be too long and ponderous. Too short and fast and you'll have a story with little to no build up, little if any development and little to no opportunities for the readers to absorb anything substantial; which will make the readers loose interest. Too long and ponderous and you will wind up bogging down the narrative, slowing down events a bit too much to the point of tedium and could sometimes (if written poorly enough) would leave the readers feeling bored or unable to follow for very long and may end up putting focus too much on one character to the detriment of the others if it's a story where POV shifts between the cast. Note that there is a major difference between writing a long chapter and writing a slow dragging, bogged down narrative. The key is to find and maintain balance. It will take some time to figure out, but once you do you'll find your writing will become easier, more fulfilling and less overwhelming.

I'll be first to admit I have fallen victim to long dragging narrative in my story's but it is something that thankfully I have learned from. And that is another big part of good writing: always seek to adapt, grow, change and learn as a writer. Learn new ways to write; always seek to improve and hone your skills, learn new things, become intimate with understanding your characters, learn the nuance of the narrative of your story. Look at examples of movies, anime, books, tv shows, and video games with story's and pay attention to details, the pacing and the narrative within these mediums and find examples that are good; find out and what makes them good so that you can use the tropes being utilized to enhance yourself, and be sure to watch for the bad as well; discover what the problems are, identify those problems, and seek to avoid and mitigate them in yourself and your story. The worst thing you can do as a writer is staying stagnant. The author, characters, plot and narrative should grow together. If none of them are growing; then you're doing something wrong.

When you start a story that you intend to see till the end for a long fic or even a series, make sure you start with an end goal in mind. Where do you plan on going in your story and what do you hope to accomplish? If you intend to have some sort of message at the end, what sort of message are you trying to send the reader? What happens along the way can be thought out, it can happen spontaneously, it can even bounce back and forth between the two, but always make sure you know where the plot is going to go so that you don't end up wandering aimlessly in a foggy quagmire.

One thing to be made aware is that in any sort of literary work; it is that _meaningful _conflict is the heart of good drama. Any conflict that is created for the sake of conflicts sake is usually not a good idea: within literature there must be a reason mechanically and narratively speaking that pushes the plot forward. Unless it does then all you do is weigh the plot down with a clunky and pointless attempt at fabricated drama that does nothing to progress the story. The conflict must have a reason for being there, wither it be to ramp up reasonable tension, to establish a character or group's motives and alignment, to provide motivation for the cast, show a moment of introspection for the characters, ect. Two best friends starting a fight over wither the dodgers or the browns are good sports teams, trading blows and then never speaking to each other again is no way to provide meaningful drama for your story.

Something else to be aware of is that sometimes you must ground yourself in reality, be objective and sometimes that even means dropping certain plot elements and story paths if they weaken the story, derail the narrative, make little sense or just have no real place in the story. Ask yourself: how does this advance the plot? What do I set out to accomplish? Does this provide _meaningful _conflict to my story? Will this derail my characters or narrative? Where can I put this and how does this fit with both what I have and were I intend to go? Will me adding this weaken the plot? If an idea you have feels like it might not work, makes little to no sense, or overall provides nothing that adds to the story or drive the narrative forward, then it would be best to either re-write it or scrap it altogether. This may be difficult sometimes, especially if it's something you thought long and hard on and might even like a little bit, but sometimes a good writer knows what to leave in and what to send to the cutting room floor. Because if it seems like something might be a bad idea: nine times out of ten it probably is.

Another thing is that characters that are written into the story have to have a purpose for existing in the narrative, they must have some role to play, a position to fill. They have to give something to the story otherwise, why would you write them? A character that serves no purpose in any way shape of form is just an extra useless body on stage and more unneeded effort to write. Avoid creating or adding new characters if you're not sure what is accomplished by adding them to the narrative. Charicters should have a role to play, they shouldn't just "be there" for the sake of being there. Think things out before adding them.

Conversely be equally as carful when deciding to engage in the act of killing off characters. I'm not saying not to (even though I find the idea, act and experience of death involving a canon Witches from the strike witches series with to be utterly soul killing, not to mention that it would end up drastically shifting the tone of a Strike Witches fic by leaps and bounds); I'm simply saying think long and hard _who_ to kill, _when_ you kill them,_ how_ to kill them and wither you really _should _kill them. While character death _can_ provide a measure of drama, suspense and even indicate a changing of either genre, tone or simply increase the grave sense danger and give an element of tragedy; it isn't something to take lightly. Characters are a source of narrative potential, they provide opportunity for new events, interaction, plotlines and development of new, interesting ideas. The death of a character signifies the death of potential, a death of future ideas and opportunities. Just like you shouldn't add characters if they don't add something to the story, you should be careful when it comes to axe off characters that you don't kill characters off or weather you shouldn't at certain places, ways or even at all in cases for similar reasons as well as if you don't want to close a door at having more potential in these characters being explored, or if the death serves no point in the story other than for a cheap shot at shock value. I have heard of a couple cases of writers who have killed off particular characters and have regretted doing so, wither at all or simply at certain points that they felt were far to soon to kill the character in question. Treat character death as a solemn event. For either adding or killing characters: take your time, use good judgement, think long and hard and, in order to segway into my next talking point... and I realize this may sound like a weird, alien sounding statement but: ask the characters what they want.

Yes, you heard right: ask the characters what they want; let them tell you what to do. I'll explain what this means and what I'm talking about in a moment but first I must lay something out real quick.

This is a pretty big one for a story and especially for a fanfic , but the important thing to remember is that in order to write better stories in fanfiction that to start; the characters must not be seen as puppets to dance on strings or as slaves to have jump at your beck and call, or as a vehicle and stand in for you and the audience to live vicariously through or as rewards for some Charicter/OC/Gary Stu/ect to covet: they are people with their own thoughts, hopes, dreams, desires, strengths, weakness, virtues, vices and psychology. So allow them freedom and agency to act in ways that are natural to them. Whatever sort of event that they experience, that they can be allowed to grow, but it must be in a way that adheres to their overall character personality. The question a writer must ask isn't so much how "the writer " would act, but more of how the characters cannon-selves would act if placed in a particular situation.

Ignoring this will render flat, shallow dolls wearing masks of the readers favorite characters. By extension the world and canon isn't there to be defiled by the fanfic writer, but to explore and expand. Can there be new elements or developments to the verse? Of course there can: but it must be developments that make sense within the context of the verse. Likewise, any sort of character growth must also make sense to the character experiencing that growth, based on their personality and overall character.

Going back to my statement of Letting the characters tell you what to do it is an abstract concept but it is one that I embrace whole heartedly and those who adhere to this mantra of not telling characters what to do but letting the character tell them what to write is the mark of an exceptional writer. Some say that the author has ultimate sway, dominion, authority and control of a story. To some small degree this is true. But at some point this stops being the case all that much... and it then becomes a case of where _ the characters_ have ultimate sway, dominion, authority and control of a story.

The reigns of control must belong in the hands of the characters; it is a difficult skill to learn or develop, for some it is a gift that is uncommon to possess inherently and most fanfic writers will fail to grasp the concept but it is one that I can explain: The narrative has to have a logical and natural flow to it. And the characters must be given agency to act on their own free will: they are not the writers slaves to snap to the writers beck and call. The writers job is simply to scribe and chronicle events that are taking place. Good writing is cultivated and therefore good stories are crafted when this aspect is kept in mind. A good story is crafted when, and this is going back to the mantra again; the writer doesn't tell the characters what to do, but instead when the characters tell the writer what to write. The writer can pitch ideas to the characters for scenarios and vague plotlines but they cannot be forced. In addition, even if the character does accept a suggestion from the writer, they must be allowed to act with their own personal initiative and freewill in mind, do not tell the characters how to act, what to think or what to feel. Allow them to stay true to themselves and act and grow in a way that is natural for them.

Basically what this means in pain English is that when you write a character and any sense involving them that you write in a way that stays true to the central core aspects of the character and that they act in ways that are logical and realistic given any sort of circumstances they would be a part of. The only time a character should ever act in a way that is Out of Character (OOC) is either for the occasional comedic moment, but primarily for the most dire, stressful or otherwise heavily serious moments, and even than it should usually be relegated to one brief moment in a narrative plot point, barring perhaps any process involving guilt, trauma, depression, PTSD, mental instability and other such cases, but than the normal tropes and aspects of character growth and plot development for such points should be developed and gone through in the narrative process.

Also avoid forcing plots, characters and narrative; let it flow naturally through you like water. And let the characters tell you what to write, don't tell them what to do. Just step back and let them go about their lives in the world and see what they can do. Adhering to these guidelines will allow the story to blossom like a flower.

If you do not do this then your characters, narrative, verse and ultimately story will suffer catastrophic damage and be counted amongst the 90% of dreck that litters the internet and be forever held as an example of the garbage that damages and violates the craft of the written word and would be considered an affront and insult to the art of literature in general. In laymen's terms: it will be just another shitty, unmoving, unreadable story amongst a hundred thousand if not millions of shitty unmoving, unreadable story's that have no damn business existing in the first place. Nothing more than an annoying distraction. Good writing moves and changes people. Bad writing is like a car alarm that has been blaring for over a half hour and grating on both your nerves and sanity.

Finally, as was briefly touched on above. The story, characters, narrative and world should have a natural flow. Things shouldn't be forced; a writer who forces characters and narrative and plot elements ends up hurting the characters, the narrative and ultimately themselves. At the same time, there should also be structure, be sure to follow a logical, rational progression and coherence. Use the tropes as tools and guidelines to help you study and become familiar with story elements. Also be sure to take some time to have a break once in a while. If you find yourself suffering from writers block, taking a break for a while may help you get those creative juices flowing again; it's rare for people to power though a writer's block by just bunkering down and trying to focus heavily, sometimes you just need to take the pressure off and approach things from a calmer, relax state of mind. Step back from the computer and read a book, watch a video, play a video game, take a nap, meditate for a few minutes, talk with some friends, grab a bite to eat, do a few jumping jacks, listen to some soothing music or music you really like, whatever it is you do to relax; do it. Then once you've done that for a while, come back swinging. Sometimes you gotta take time to sharpen the saw before you try and cut down the tree.


	3. Chapter 3: Writer Mindset

Chapter 3: Writer Mindset

This chapter will be somewhat short but it will contain a few subjects that relate to what sort of mindset a writer must take when they set about writing a Strike Witches fanfic. A writers paradigm going into writing a Strike Witches fic can be a factor into wither the story succeeds or fails.

For a Strike Witches Fanfic, or any fanfic really, a writer has to come for a place of love towards the series they are writing about. It's vital that writers who are fans of the Strike Witches series love and care about the characters, the verse, the story, ect and thanks to this love they seek to try and learn everything about Strike Witches as much as possible, as well as crafting their fanfics with carful, painstaking detail and undivided attention. Doing this will render better quality stories and show how much work and effort is being put into the piece. A fanfic should be a love letter to the series that you're a fan of.

Coming from a place of hatred for a series is the worst thing you can do as a writer. Writers who write hate fics often times make no attempt to pay attention to detail to the characters, the world or anything else about the series; because they don't care. They won't write with much care, detail or as well since they don't care for, if not outright hate the series. I know some people might find some hate fics to be funny, but frankly, for the most part; hate fics are a waste of the readers and writers time, and are ultimately not only distractions but outright venom that ends up contributing nothing constructive to the net or to humanity.

People write Fanfiction because they love the series: why waste time and effort writing about something you hate?

And by coming from a place of love, it has to be loving the series for what it is, not what you want it to be: strike witches is a magical girl, WW2, military slice of life, Yuri series. It's not a ecchi, fanservicey harem anime that is in need of a male lead to steal the spot light, because that is NOT what strike witches is.

Another thing about writing a Strike Witches fanfic is a pretty big state of mind that most people I have seen get wrong a lot in fanfics, but especially in Strike Witches fics. The absolute worst thing to wreak a story at conception, before it even leaves the starting gate, is a writer taking the mindset of trying to "Improve the series." As a writer I urge my peers from the bottom of my heart to NOT THINK THIS WAY. People who write stories thinking they can "improve something" in the series is the biggest stumbling block that a writer can trip over. We shouldn't think we can "improve the series" and start breaking apart the series that we supposedly love. That isn't the job of a facfic writer; at the end of the day: we are _fans._ We are not members of the production staff. Those who have taken this mindset of "improving" Strike Witches have caused irreparable damage to the series, their stories and even tarnished the names of the fan base with this quite frankly arrogant, hazard ridden mindset.

Rather than thinking we can "Improve the series", a fanfic writer must instead write with the intention of _"exploring"_ the series. A fanfic writer should not be trying to re-write the mechanics, world or characters while trying to make it come off as taking place in the same verse as the cannon anime, movie, doujn and light novels. Instead they must look at what the series is, take all the elements of what is both shown, written and depicted in the series, as well as what can be reasonably extrapolated from all this information from careful observation and educated guess work; and then explore the possibilities with all these elements in mind. The writers of One Winged Witches, The Suomus Misfits, Tiger in the desert, Witch in Africa, Witches of the Sphinx and Witch of Capuzzo are examples of fans and peers of crafting anime and manga who saw the series, researched the material and whole heartedly embraced each and every aspect of Strike Witches and chose to "explore" the Strike Witches world in these story's instead of trying to change or "improve" the series. As a result; the original creator, Shimada, saw these works and not only liked them enough, but saw the amount of care and respect to the source material and how true to form it stayed to his original vision that he chose to endorse the characters, strikers, and even the events that took place in these stories as cannon to his series. I'm of course not saying that Shimada himself is ever going to do the same for our works, but it does demonstrate how strong, well written and respectful to the source material these written works are that they were endorsed as part of the series expanded universe by the creator.

Speaking of respect, that is another thing that must be taken into account as a writers mindset. Besides love for the series: you must also _show respect_ to the series. What that means is that you see every element in the series; the Strike Witches world, the joint fighter wings, the witches, the Neuroi, the politics, the culture, the weapons, the strikers, the familiars, the lack of pants, the Yuri, the fact that the fate of humanities survival and the fate of the world rests in the hands of young, strong, independent girls that can take care of themselves, everything about the series and you accept it all for what it is and respect it. When you write your stories you must ensure that when you're writing a fic that you're not doing something that would be disrespecting the characters, the verse or the series as a whole by trying to change what makes strike witches: Strike Witches.

This will be covered in greater detail in later chapters but writing a story where some random guy with impossible magic comes around to turn those strong, independent, intelligent young girls into weak kneed, incompetent, idiotic fools that go from being well trained soldiers of magic to nothing more than eye candy, an award or even worse as a walking talking sex doll: is NOT respectful to the Strike Witches series. If anything it is downright disrespectful and offensive.

For a fan of a series who aspires to become a Fanfiction writer, when a series speaks to us we sometimes feel the need to speak back to the series we love in its own language. We must be sure to do so with love, respect and affection. To write a scenario like the above for a Strike Witches fic would be akin to taking a baseball bat, beating the series to a bloody pulp while shouting every obscenity in the human language, dancing a jig on its skull, kicking it in first the groin, then the ass and flipping it off while walking away. It doesn't bode well for other fans nor for the creators when a fanfic writer does this.

Also its best to avoid trying to write Strike Witches as something it's not, specifically trying to re-tool the genre that it falls under, because unless you possess exceptional skill, knowledge, experience or raw talent, then it will be an attempt that will more often than not end up being tedious, arduous, stressful and an overall difficult process that has a high likely hood of falling flat. Trying to remove the Yuri in strike witches and instead trying to write it as a harem story with a male lead is a dead on arrival scenario, and by the far the weakest of story concepts; always clichéd, always poorly written, always overdone to death, always suffering from a cancerous, weekly characterized and generally unlikeable male protagonist. And again, it's also a disrespectful defilement of the series for the reasons stated before. If you want to fail quickly as a writer of a Strike Witches fic: write a male hero harem story. Want to make it fail even faster: make him a Gary Stu. (I'll be covering this particular subject in latter chapters, so please be sure to stay with me long enough so I can explain some of this.) Trying to re-write it as a "grim-dark-as-fuck" horror/drama is also a concept to approach with caution because most amateur writers often times aren't known for writing good horror/drama due to inexperience and being unaware of how drama and horror works, so until you new writers have some writing experience under your belt and do some research, I'd advise avoiding trying to write Strike Witches into such a genre. Some common mistakes made by new or inexperienced writers in this genre often have: pointless, sudden deaths with no build up that feel cheep, contrived and forced conflict for conflicts sake, wallowing in a mire of sickening physical, mental and emotional abuse chapter after chapter, characters holding the idiot ball in situations where really they should 't be, characters wangsting about everything in the world around them and doing nothing to change things, amongst others. There are a few other genres that wouldn't work well, if at all, for strike witches in general, so just know what Strike Witches is: It's a Military/War story, Magical Girl, Mecha, Military Slice of Life, Drama, Yuri series. Try working with this to start for your first fic and take on the mindsets stated above and you will be able to craft a very good story.

One final thing about being a fanfic writer is to be aware of and cautious of the readers. While suggestions from fans of your story are alright, and it's always nice to hear from the people who read your story; don't let the readers dictate to you or the characters what should happen if the suggestions are bad ideas, wouldn't work, might derail your story, or just have no place in the narrative. Sometimes a reader might have a great idea, other times it's a real stinker. Keep in mind that constructive criticism that is made to help you grow isn't the same as a person asking for something to happen or someone to appear in your story because they want it to happen; these are two completely different things.

Just be mindful of the series and yourself. And when you write, don't write to satisfy your readers, to become popular over the net or to push something though your story: do it because you love the series and you love to write. And because you want to give a love letter to the Strike Witches through the written word. Doing that will be another step to writing a good Strike Witches fic.

Also to our dear readers out there: the review's section isn't a comments section; it's for _reviews_. We writers need critical, in-depth, constructive feedback for things that we may or may not have missed. We need to know wither we as writers are doing something on a mechanical, narrative, character driven or world building level right or wrong. We want to know what you like, what you don't like, what you think of our work, and more importantly: _why_ these things are the case. We look to you guys desperately for such feedback. Encouragement and kind words are nice, but a well thought out, critical review about how you view our stories and why you see what you see in them is even better. We can't do much or know whether we are doing things right or wrong in these areas, or just what you think of the things happening in the story unless you tell us your thoughts. Writers like me crave feedback more than we do praise; we want to know what makes the minds of our readers tick and how they think and feel in deep detail about the plots, narrative characters and events of our stories. Writers like me: we want to pick your brains. Don't be shy or feel intimidated to share with us your thoughts, feelings and paradigms when you read our work. It will provide a great deal of insight into our readers and stimulate engaging discussion between writers and readers alike.


	4. Chapter 4: The Witches

***Edit: The chapter was given a small addendum clarifying and amending information regarding witches magical abilities and why female humans are capable of wielding magic to help clarify and explain to the readers understand how to view witches magic in the context of the strike witches world.***

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Chapter 4: The Witches

You can't have a Strike Witches fanfic without witches: it's like trying to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the bread. Witches are the glue that holds the series together. Without the Witches: it just wouldn't be strike witches; the focus for any strike witches story must always fall upon the witches. It may not have to specifically be from the point of view of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, but the story of Strike Witches is the story of our girls of magical power living and fighting in a world at war with an alien threat. In this chapter we will be talking about the witches themselves, what a witch is, what abilities aside from magic they possess, witches familiars and a few other things regarding witch kind. Witches magic will be covered in greater detail in the next chapter, but there will be a brief preview on a witches magical abilities in this chapter.

Firstly: what is a witch?

A witch is a young magical girl that possesses great, innate magical potential. Able to control the ether and focus their abilities in the magic arts. They are humanities champions, mankind's protectors, the bane of Neuroi. They go by many names by the people they protect and from the men they serve alongside: "cutie witches", "angels of the land and sky"," Panzerfrauline", "Dancing Lioness Princesses", "Enchanted Cowgirls", "Roughriders" to name a few.

Witches are young girls and young women who bring hope to the majority of mankind. Born to the duties and responsibility of using their power to do the greatest and utmost good. Even some of the most arrogant, stubborn, foul mouth, ill tempered, unmotivated, haphazard, anti-social, perverted or aloof witches still possess an innate desire to make use of their gifts for others, albeit in their own unique way. Even with most being children they bear the responsibilities, some would go so far as to say burden, of protecting mankind. Witches hail from many countries, come from many walks of life, come in many shapes and sizes and run the gaunt of personalities, interests and each of these girls hold to their own dreams, goals and ambitions.

Witches are born with the gift of magic, being capable of astounding feats of strength, endurance and better intelligence then most other children or even most adults. In their world, only these young girls can wield magic and channel raw ether through their bodies. Amongst all of human kind only the girls who are born to the powers of magic can wield such power.

After spending a great deal of time researching various information sources and official materials I have managed to verify that the information regarding male magic users in the Strike Witches Series Universe in any capacity is in fact false, in addition it was confirmed in a First Spear Strike Witches Doujinshi called "Witch of Stuka" (as all Strike Witches first Spear doujin and stories are confirmed as cannon to the series) confirms that only those "chosen" members of the female population of humanity are capable of using magic. Magic is a realm only accessibly by girls and women. (As a result this chapter has been updated in order to provide accurate information regarding this).  


Some may ask why it is only girls are capable of magic in this verse and what the reasons for this are it can be best described as being the same as a woman's ability to give birth: it's just a given natural fact. So the realm of magic is limited to the domain of girls. All witches are capable of raising a shield, and also possess a magical barrier-like field around their body's that allow them to resist to varying degrees the harsh elements, and can even survive in the vacuum of space, so long as their magical reserves held firm.

All witches possess superhuman abilities for girls of their age. Witches are capable of great feats of strength far surpassing a grown, physically fit man: being able to carry weapons, ammo, cannons and gear that even the strongest, fittest and healthiest of men cannot do. Witches are pint sized power houses, Aside from being able to wield and mitigate the recoil of conventional small-arms like the Arisaka, Garand and Lee-Enfield amoungst other weapons, they can also easily wield heavy weapons like the BAR, Witch Combat Gun, Bren, MG34, MG42, M1919A6 and even the M2 Browning as if they were mere rifles. Witches can even carry heavy crew served weapons like autocannons or heavy anti-tank weapons like the PIAT, Boys Mark 1, Panzerchreck and Fligerhammer relatively easily, although admittedly larger, heavier weapons like autocannons can a bit more taxing for a witch to carry, mitigate recoil, wield and fire in combat for a witch on foot without either strikers providing a magic boost or having strength augmentation abilities; some witches have magic that can further augment their already amazing strength or alternatively can reduce a weapons mass tio carry it as if it weighed nothing at all: which is likely the only way a witch can feasibly carry a weapon massive weapon like the Flack 88.

In addition, and it's something that quite a few Strike Witches Fanfic writers seems to miss: is that these are all normal WW2 weapons and munitions. Neuroi are a powerful, grave threat with incredible defenses. When in the hands of a normal, mundane soldier, a weapon like these either does nothing or very little by itself. Even with heavier weapons and/or larger number of weapons it takes a great deal of effort to take down Neuroi that are of large enough size, and even the smaller sizes sometimes need a full clip or more dumped into the Neuroi in question to even expose the core. Against vehicle sized Neuroi and larger conventional small arms are useless and use of anti-tank weapons, artillery, armor and aircraft weapons payloads are required, but even then it requires a lot of ammunition and weapon systems, and perhaps a healthy dose of luck to be even remotely effective. And against the largest and most powerful Neuroi, mundane arms of men do jack diddly. Their is no effect. Powerful WW2 Ships can fire full broadsides at such Neuroi and have no effect on target, or what little effect it has is marginal and is immediately regenerated. And yet these same weapons in the witches hands fair so much better against Neuroi in battle. The reason for this is because a witches magic becomes imbued into the weapons and ammo she carries; in her hands, that MG42 becomes ten times as powerful then if it were in the hands of a mundane soldier. In addition some witches can imbue further magic power into their weapons and ammo for even greater damage. (this will be covered in the next chapter in greater detail). A witches power can also mitigate the issues regarding a weapons recoil, stabilizing the weapon to grant her easier use of her firearm while in battle.

Each witch has a sort of pool of magic that they can use, after making heavy and/or prolonged use of their magic these magic reserves start to dwindle. After a witch is spent, that witches magical reserve has to be replenished with a good meal, water and some rest. Even with magic witches have limits, while witches are capable of passing normal human limits for your average, mundane person, going past these limits can prove dangerous as a witch over exerting herself could be put at greater risk of injury or even death.

One thing that quite a few fanfic writers of Strike Witches fics seem to be forgetful of is that: just because the witches are young girls does _NOT _mean that they are weak and in need of men to save them. It is, in fact the inverse: it is the military men that need the witches to save their bacon in battle. Case in point is that in every instance in the anime that we have seen navel fleets of ships fighting the Neuroi they often faired little chance against alien laser fire. In fact, whenever the ships went head to head against many of the large Neuroi classes the ships were often heavily damaged if not outright sunk.

In the movies, while a company of Liberion and Kralsland infantry and tanks managed to trade blows respectfully with some walker class Neuroi with offshore artillery bombardment from the navy providing fire support, when the large class flying Neuroi appeared it completely destroyed the infantry and tanks in less than three seconds, and then proceeded to cripple or outright destroy the offshore fleet in short order, soon followed by wiping a whole city off the face of the earth. This shows that humanities mundane fighting forces can do very little if anything against the Neuroi's much larger and more powerful units, any attack with mundane troops will demand the use of large waves and tremendous firepower, and even then it will result in heavy casualties. Even then, victory is by no means guaranteed.

With this latter example compare this to when the witches of the 501st closed with and engaged the very same Neuroi that destroyed the Karlsland and Liberion infantry and tanks, as well as the naval fleet and razed the city to the ground. When the 501st engaged this particular Neuroi, they managed to destroy this very same, extremely powerful Neuroi in under 60 seconds. What this demonstrates is the tremendous power that lies within the very being of a witch. As stated before: witches are the only true, effective counter to the Neuroi. Without witches fighting on the field of battle humanity would have gone extinct ages ago.

Another example was seen in witch in the desert where a mixed unit of Britannian, Karlsland, Romagnan and Liberion men that were part of an artillery battery were trading blows with Neuroi, and while they fared well at range due to the terrine of the African desert and from engaging the enemy at long range, once the Neuroi drew close they could use their lasers more effectively and at that point proceeded to cut through entire swaths of men in a hail of lasers and Neuroi bullets with ease. It wasn't until Hanna Marseille and Major Cecilia Glinda Miles of "C" Squadron, 4th Armoured Brigade arrived on the battlefield to save the lives of the soldiers and even the support and cooking staff that had taken to the field. That's right: the girls came to the rescue of the guys. While there may be a few instances of witches needing help in some of the official source mateiral, it doesn't overshadow the fact that witches do as much saving of mundane forces. If anything witches are doing the saving or everyone is standing side by side together and keeping each other covered. And when witches do get rescued in those few instances, it more often than not rescue conducted by fellow witches, not really all that much by the mundane troops. Are their times that the witches need help? Of course. But that doesn't mean that because they are girls that they are week, incompetent damsels in distress, because they are not, at least not on average or any more or less than any other solider (given that their are the occasional cases of Nipa, Amaki and O'hare who are rather infamously well known for their varies degrees of spills and blunders). They are, in general, soldiers of magic fighting a fierce, dire enemy that only they can counter, and often have to fight in fierce battles that can fatigue them and drain their magic reserves. If you want to know how to best portray the witches in your story, read the light novels, doujinshi and official source material to better get an understanding of how to show these girls in combat.

Also remember that there is a reason that witches in these joint fighter wings wear military uniforms: it is because they serve in the military. They are not cosplaying as soldiers: they _are _soldiers. They are in fact soldiers of magical might, young super solders born and charged with the protection of humanity against any threats. They train, drill, fight, quote military law and follow strict regulations for a reason. They aren't attending a convention: they are fighting a war. There are many examples of witches receiving serious if not life threatening wounds while serving, in addition to the fact they are no strangers to death, even death reaching large tallies both for civilians and military personnel. Witches have seen many towns and cities razed to the ground, refugees being displaced to live in refugee camps, the land slowly turning sick under prolonged Neuroi control, and even a few cases where witches have seen other witches perish in battle; such is the case with Laura Toph and Elizabeth Berling. Again: the witches are soldiers and are fighting a very grim, desperate war. The Witches are tough, strong, independent competent, and brave girls. They are NOT to be written as some male protagonists personal comfort battalion (which I see happening a lot in strike witches fanfiction and this is, for some inconceivable reason, being depicted as a good thing. It is anything BUT good).

Witches are powerful solders of magical might. As a fan of strike witches: NEVER FORGET THIS!

That being said, even When military law has to be followed strictly and taken seriously, their have been times when civilian lives and the lives of mundane and witch comrades are in peril. When it comes to human life it is shown that witches are humanities protectors, that the witches are people much like those they protect. Humanity in the Strike Witches world ask themselves with frequency: "what does victory mean to us?" It is because of this that on occasion that a witch knows well what her orders are but their are times where she must abide by what her heart tells her. In one particular instance: when the witches stationed in Africa were ordered to retake the Suez Canal and therefore leave an under equipped, desperate, exhausted Egyptian army as well as hundreds of thousands of countless civilians that had yet to evacuate and were being advanced upon by the Neuroi. Even when given this order to focus only on trying to retake the Suez, the witches of humanity stationed in Africa disregarded marching orders to retake the Suez and instead evacuated the citizens and haggard army of Cairo Egypt, coming to the aid of the people. Why did these girls, these young soldiers of magic, disobey their orders?

The answer can be summed up in this simple exchange between General Montgomery and General Patton by the end of the second Volume of the Switches of the Sphinx doujin. Montgomery asked, referencing a past scenario why it was that when the witches were ordered to defend the Suez they instead worked to save the citizens of Cairo. As Patton explained to Montgomery it's because before being soldiers, the girls are... Witches... and people first.

While many of the witches of humanity have served in the military to fight against the Neuroi, it's important for both them and us to remember just what it is they are fighting for. Much like for the point about witches being powerful soldiers of magical might; it's equally important, if not even more important, especially given the tone of the series regarding it's place on the idealism scale, what is it what that the witches and humanity fight for? Why do they fight? What does victory mean to the witches and to humanity in the face of annihilation against the Neuroi. As stated before, as a fan of Strike Witches: NEVER FORGET THIS!

Moving on from there we come to age ranges of witches. For a witches magic to manifest, it's often at ages very young from around the ages of 7 to 11 on average is where a witches magical potential is awakened, and either immediately met with or soon followed by making a compact with a familiar. A witches magic at this time isn't easily wielded for the most part; it requires a great degree of training and practice before a witch can even wield and properly focus and control their magic. Like how a baby must learn to crawl before it can walk, or how a toddler must walk before they can run, such incremental progression in magical proficiency must also be seen as the same for a witch.

The normal ages for witches to enlist appear to be at around on average between the ages of twelve years of age, possibly even eleven or as young as ten with written consent from a parent or guardian dependent on nation and circumstances, although for countries like some parts of the Eurasian continent, Africa and Orussia in all likely hood have witches at younger ages possibly serving in the military or at least going though basic training and boot camps due to the heavy concentration of Neuroi holding a lot of territory in these regions, wither out of written consent by parents and guardians from some, possibly even conscription for others. Despite the idealistic tone of the series, keep in mind there could be a lot of things in the background that we don't see that might be happening; this is a desperate war for humanity after all. Remember the tone of the series as well as some of the implications found therein should you decide to explore such things however.

Magical proficiency for witches will often hit its peak potential at around ages 13 to 19, with the amount of training, experience and general use of a witches magic playing a key factor in how skilled or powerful your average witch is in her gifts. Upon reaching the ages of 20 and up for the majority of witches is the time when her magical ability begins to weaken due to age. Some witches lose some or all their ability to use magic faster than others, some witches at the ages of 22 to 24 are lucky enough to still have most of their magic potential before it begins to weaken but most witches aren't so lucky in this regard. Often the first thing to weaken is a witches shield, her barrier of protection against enemy fire. It is not uncommon for witches nearing the end of their military operational lifespan to hide how much weaker their shields become at this age. Some witches even go so far to continue fighting long after a she has passed her prime with an abysmally weak or non-existent shield, finding other means at trying to continue the fight out of obligation to humanity, the desire to continue fighting alongside their unit, for pride, duty and honor, or simply to keep engaging the Neuroi.

There are very few witches born to particular magical bloodlines that possess exceptional magical power and potential who are able to retain their abilities in using magic even far beyond the normal ages for witches to lose their magic. Witches like Tomoko Anabuki and Yoshika Myiafuji are two of such witches, being by far the most powerful and famous of witches. That being said, even witches of such strong magical potential still have to learn how to use their abilities properly, like any other witch. They have to train with and hone their skills in order to ensure they use such powerful magic to its full potential. As for the retention ages of magically powerful bloodlines, sometimes at the ages of 30, 40, 50 or even older are within the realm of possibility (possibly either due to powerful family magic bloodlines or even due to the nature of certain types of magic not straining a witches magical reserves, the full reasons behind loss of magic is currently unknown) but these are the exception, not the rule. For the most part witches start to lose their ability to use magic are somewhere around the twenty year mark.

For writers of Strike Witches fics its recommended to write a "run of the mill, average witch" and see what sort of story you can craft with her as the focus. If you want to write a story involving a witch of a "Powerful Bloodline" it is cautioned that you do not write an OC witch from an existing witch family (this will be explored in more detail in later chapters) and follow the rules of good character creation. And remember: don't write a Mary Sue witch (this too will be covered in later chapters).

Another thing to remember is that while there may be a great number of witches in the world, not every witch is in the military. While most witches enlist into military life for various reasons, it's also quite common for there to be civilian witches; witches who for one reason or another did not enlist in the military or had retired long past their prime and chose to return to civilian life instead of finding other roles in military service besides front line combat. Such witches are rather unique in the world for they chose to use their gifts in ways instead of answering the call to arms, or simply not to fight in uniform. While examples are few, they do exist, Matilda being possibly one such example. Although she fights alongside the 31st Joint Fighter Squadron Afrika and had been trained in the use of common infantry weapons, she is in fact does not formally belong to any military. She probably isn't the only such witch who isn't formally part of a nations military. However it should be kept in mind that such witches are, once again civilians: unless they had gone through rigorous physical, mental or magical training thanks to family, cultural/social structure, encouragement from one's peers or simply one's own personal initiative then on average their magic power and abilities will be considerably lacking compared to military witches.

The next topic to bring attention to is the subject of a witches familiar. A familiar is a sort of animal spirit that bind themselves to a witch through something called a "Familiars Compact", where the animal spirit leaves a unseen "mark" on a witch to serve as a witches familiar. Familiars usually seek out and form compacts with a witch either at the moment a witches magical potential is unlocked at a certain age or just shortly after such potential is unlocked. A familiar helps provide magical control for a witch and help with easily accessing raw ether in the world around a witch to wield their magic powers, in addition to gaining ability's that are common to a particular animal species. In addition, every familiar has personalities and come from species as varied as the witches themselves, although it's noted that the majority are either particular mammals like various species of cats, various species of dogs, wolves, rabbits, foxes, mice, raccoon's, horses, weasels, bears, as well as a multitude of bird species. It's highly uncommon to near rarity to see witches possessing familiars of some mammals like Gazelle, Moose and Antelope, which include not only ears and tails but also horns and antlers. On top of that, as of thus far other animal species besides mammal and bird species are highly unknown to form compacts, as such non-mammal and non-bird species have yet to be observed, indicating that compacts with such animals are highly unlikely if not outright impossible. Their may be possibility of snakes (with witches manifesting their familiars snake tails and snake fangs) and lizards (with witches manifesting their familiars tails) being seen but they aren't really a very common animal spirit that forms compacts with the girls in question. The way a witch forms compacts with familiars varies: sometimes a witch chooses an animal spirit as a familiar, sometimes the familiar chooses the witch, other times a familiar and it's offspring remain with one family line for generations and others still where circumstances thrust witch and animal spirit together, Occasionally (though highly uncommon) witches who had and lost pets in their early childhood may find the spirits of their beloved animal friend returning to serve as the witches familiar.

It is extremely rare for a witches familiar to talk to either the witch they form compacts with or even with other people (or on average in the normal, conventional sense of speaking. It's possible that witches and familiars may have some form of telepathic link that allows for non-verbal communication). It's more common that the familiars don't speak (or at least, again, in the conventional sense though how often they communicate telepathically and to what extent is another question altogether). Only witches of incredibly powerful magic potential have familiars that talk: case in point, Hanna Marseille is a skilled, powerful witch from Karlsland; a top ranking military ace, and not even her familiar can talk. Whereas both Yoshika and Tomoko have familiars that talk, although with the case of Yoshika's familiar he doesn't talk to Yoshika, only to other people when she isn't around or paying attention. The death of a familiar often times means either a huge diminishing or outright loss of a witches magical ability. When a witches synchronizes with their familiar they reside within the witch an manifest as their ears and tails, and usefully they reside inside the witch in question unless either they decide to show themselves or if the witch calls them forward.

It's very rare but witches like Matilda don't have familiars at all; indicating that the witch in question hasn't formed a compact with an animal spirit and possesses exceptional magical control either inherently or though extraneous training. Although it is also possible that such witches adhere to a different magical discipline then most of their witch peers, but it is uncertain if either of these things are the case. Ultimately it comes down to writer interpretation in such instances.

When it comes to witches serving in the military, the girls are faced with very stringent laws and protocol. While most commonly found laws involving theft, going AWOL, insubordination, reckless endangerment, mutiny and other laws regarding these and other matters are to be expected in a military setting, witches and soldiers they serve with are also subject to a unique piece of military law that many Strike Witches writers either miss, ignore or are not aware of: A blanket, worldwide prohibition against fraternizing or intimate relations between witches and mundane military personal of any and all ranks.

Undoubtedly shock and outrage are likely to fill some people out here reading this bit of confirmed cannon material. And as has been seen many people seem to believe that the prohibition between unnecessary fraternization was established by Minna due to the erroneous, uninformed belief that Minna Wilcke is either a straw feminist or a embittered woman trying to willfully undermine romance between he girls and your standard issue grunt, NCO, Officer or what have you, but in actuality this is incorrect: Minna didn't "make up" this law; she is ENFORCING the law. She is, after all; a Commanding officer of not only the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, but an officer of Karlsland. And if you've seen any military drama's in your time or served in the military before, you know that officers have to make sure that military laws and protocol are enforced. As stated it is a worldwide prohibition that is enforced to varying degrees by both between nation and by individual unit; with some being stricter then others. Minna is certainty being strict in the enforcement of this law.

Why would such a law of worldwide prohibition on romantic fraternization and intimacy be drawn up, written up and enforced? There is a reason for such a prohibition to be placed worldwide, and if thought into the subject was weighed fans of Strike Witches would understand the reason and the common sense behind such a prohibition. The reasons are as follows:

The majority of the girls are underage minors entering or in the cusp of puberty: the regs are enforced to protect these young girls from the advances of the much older men they serve alongside to prevent them from being taken advantage of. Remember, these are children; someone's little girl: if it were your sixteen year old or younger daughter being accosted by some random guy you would tear him a new asshole faster than you can say "jailbait". Part of the reason that the prohibition exists is to protect the witches from being exploited. Even despite a nations age of consent being likely to vary from nation to nation, since all of humanities militaries are working together, it requires a standardization to keep witches from every nation from being accosted and avoid major PR disasters back in the respective witches homeland.

Secondly it's to prevent the girls from getting pregnant. Aside from and maybe even disregarding the issue raised above, even for witches who reach the ages of consent; romance would still be highly, heavily, militantly discouraged between heterosexual pairings because the witches are required on the front lines to fight the Neuroi, and so far there hasn't been much development in terms of contraceptives in the 1940's save for possibly the condom but frankly the 1940's era condom wouldn't have been a cutting edge contraceptive due to the material be made of fibers that were often times unreliable and more often than not didn't allow for much physical pleasure between sexual partners.

What's more, while out in field or in the battle theater you would be hard pressed to get a hold of one, especially in short notice. A witch that gets in a romantic, intimate and even sexual relationship with a guy could get pregnant from having sexual intercourse with a male soldier and would their fore have to be taken out of service and placed on maternity leave. That means that the witch in question is out of action, which means that the joint fighter wing is down a solider that they would need and weaken the unit's strength, which means they would have to find a new body for their unit and get the unit's strength back up. This in turn means trying to find said new body to fill the position in the squad, which until then would mean a decrease the units combat effectiveness and overall compromise humanity's armies military strength. What all this ultimately boils down to is that because the witch got knocked up it results in one less witch that is needed on the frontline fighting the Neuroi, one less witch providing them with an easier fought victory against extinction.

Flirting on occasion may be all well and good but nothing more would be allowed to occur because without the witches fighting the enemy and holding the line humanity is going to have a much harder time surviving the war. Witches falling in love with other witches is not thought much of in the world the strike witches inhabit because at least if the girls fell in love with other witches and decided to have intimate or sexual relationships then at least they could still be combat effective: they won't get pregnant and as a result they can remain in active duty. If it were a case of a mundane G.I Jane falling for mundane G.I. Joe it wouldn't be much of an issue because of the fact they are pretty much equal to each other and if G.I. Jane got knocked up then it's just another mundane solider taken out of rotation, but witches are vital, powerful personnel required to turn the tides of battle against the Neuroi. Both they and humanities militaries can't afford the witches getting pregnant thanks to some idiot who couldn't keep his "sidearm holstered." With other women with no magical aptitude it's not as much an issue.

The third reason is because witches have magic shields and their magic; they are given much greater protection and survivability in combat. Men, who are nothing more than average G.I. Joe Shmoe's, do not, and their fore would be atomized and cut down easily by Neuroi laser fire. Even if a witch did somehow fall in love with a basic, average, dog face trooper and wanted to pursue a romantic relationship, his survivability would be painfully low; it's only somewhat marginally better if his unit is attached to or fighting alongside a witch unit. Even then survival is not guaranteed. The fact of the matter is if a Witch got emotionally attached romantically to a man, the loss she would experience if he was killed, which is highly likely, would devastate her. In a similar vein to how pregnant withes would have to be taken out of service, a witch suffering the emotional trauma and loss, suffering from PTSD brought on by loss of a loved one in combat, would compromise their decisions in combat , hinder the quality of their service or even render them unfit to serve if it is severe enough, which would require them to take medical leave to seek psychiatric care.

Developing feelings romantically for a fellow witch is not discouraged very much if at all because witches have shields and magic to bring to bear on the field of battle: there is less likely hood of a witch getting killed in combat thanks to her power protecting her, in addition to that of her comrade witches also protecting her and her comrades in turn. Losing loved ones hurts people, it damages them, such wounds to the heart, mind and soul take a long time to heal. And losing loved ones to the horrors of war is as bad if not worse. Even witches who have lost comrade witches suffer deep wounds and struggle with this baggage. Losing the man or woman you loved would be the same, but with the witches, at least, the likely hood of your beloved comrade witch coming back to barracks with you is better than say a witch hoping that her beloved G.I. Joe would be returning to base and fearing that the last time she ever sees him alive again is when they both sortie on the field of battle. This fear would compel quite a few young witches to disregard orders and even personal safety if it means their beloved solider survives the flames of combat.

Remember, these are young girls. Only those old in years and combat experience or possessing uncommon maturity for their age would be able to balance both their duties as solders and their love for their mundane solider boys while serving. Regulations preventing men and witches from unnecessary contact, or developing romantic emotional attachment with each other gives the girls a measure of detachment, or at least enough to soften the blows when men die fighting against the Neuroi. Without this regulation in place, these young girls would be complete and total emotional wrecks. It would be the same for a man falling in love with a female solider and then losing her to the fires of combat; he would be devastated. It's at this last point where one can see Minna's position: she had experienced first hand what happens when the prohibition against such levels of fraternization are not followed; what with Kurt being killed and the affect it had on her well being, and realizing that there is a reason for establishing the prohibition for Military witches. Also to reiterate: only witches serving in the military are subject to these laws: civilian witches are exempt because they are, of course, civilians.

Now there will be some who will be quick to point out that Friederike Porsche, who was serving as ground attack air infantry was a witch who fell in love with a tank commander and started a romantic relationship with him. While this may be true, keep in mind: she and her love interest were breaking a _huge_ military regulation. The only reason it continued on for a long as it did was because she was already nearing the age of where her magic was dwindling and weakening; she was already nearing retirement. If as a strike witches writer you want to pursue writing such a relationship (heterosexual relationships will be covered in later chapters, as will Lesbian relationships), remember that the witch and the man she has fallen for are basically breaking a huge military law, show the consequences of pursuing a relationship in defiance to military law, instead of either glossing over it at best or outright ignoring it at worst. Show how the couple try to romance each other from shadow, kind of like Romeo and Juliet if you need an example as a reference. Just show some realism, time and effort into building the relationship. If the pair are caught expect them to face heavy reprimands, reprisals, and severe punishments; some possible examples for punishments include demotion, confinement to quarters, reduction in pay, demerits to ones military record, a short confinement to the stockade, perhaps both romantic parties getting reassigned to separate fronts and theaters or at the least different units, and for guys who try to pursue underage witches would face longer time spent in the stockade if not dishonorable discharge. Stay aware of all this and keep yourself grounded in some measure of reality. All this must be kept in mind if writers intend to write Strike Witches fan fiction, and this bit of information must be respected and taken for what it is.

Now one of the things that can be noticed by even a casual observer in strike witches is that in general but especially as is the case in the 501st Joint Fighter Wing is that as far as a witches sexuality is concerned; the majority of witches are inclined to peruse fellow witches, as evidenced with the text and subtext of the interactions of witches like Eila and Sanya, Yoshika and Lynne and Minna and Mio. It's even of unanimous consensus amongst the fanbase that Gertrud is a major siscon for her sister Christine. It's important a Strike Witches author to keep in mind the established relationships and bonds that witches form with each other. And attraction or even preference for other witches appears to be a very common norm in the Strike Witches universe. Is there a possibility of their being witches who are possibly straight or bisexual? It's possible. But it is clear that the majority of witches are either fully lesbian or at least bisexual with a preference for girls.

Girls who are bi with preferences towards boys or who are heterosexual seem to be in the minority in the witches verse. While the aspects regarding how to go about heterosexual and Lesbian relationships will be fully covered in later chapters, keep in mind that the strike witches world that due to the nature of their worlds culture, the nature of the Neuroi war, and the fact these young girls are serving in the military closely alongside each other, that it's very common for witches to develop friendships if not full on romantic relationships with fellow witches. (More details into this area's will also be explored in later chapters). While I'm not saying that exploration into witch pairings should be discouraged, is should be warned that changing an existing cannon witches sexuality oftentimes brings up unfortunate implications and sets a bad precedent in stories that would otherwise revolve around the exploration of camaraderie, friendship and even love that girls have for each other in the series. Unless you have a huge deal of carefully handled, well crafted, professionally done, respectful development over time you could very well end up derailing the characters off a cliff and into the ocean, and that goes either for hetrosexual or Lesbian pairings, but such matters will be covered in later chapters in further detail.

One other thing to keep in mind is that because of how valuable a witch is in humanity fight for survival during the Neuroi war, the witches are often given considerable comforts in terms of living quarters, service pay, supplies, amenities and logistics compared to the average solider. The reason for this is because of the fact that witches are the only true, effective counter to Neuroi, they have to be at their best: they have to be happy, healthy (in terms of mind, body and spirit) safe and secure, relaxed and comfortable. While not every witches base is a grand and luxurious as the bases of the 501rst Joint Fighter Wing, most often have a large deal of concessions in place to ensure that humanities armored angels are well taken care of. Some witches either take warmly to such comforts, while some are rather uncomfortable having such comforts provided to them, although others likely don't think one way or the other about it. Even if its simply a camp of nothing more then standard issue military tents, the witches are given the best of creature comforts, or at least to the best of the supply officers ability to provide. While their may be exceptions to this, it most certainty not be a camp filled with negligence, abuse and abysmal living conditions; such a case appearing in the Ox Girls Fanfic. A story filled with nightmarishly abusive and god awful camp such as that is cartoonishly unrealistic for the Strike Witches world. In fact, not only would such an environment undermine the physical and mental well being of a witch, it would also undermine unit cohesion and moral and also undermine the combat effectiveness of the witches; something that humanity CANNOT afford. Not only that, it would make any girls that were shaped by such a unit into a danger to both other witches, military personnel and even to civilians once their service time as witches were done. An environment like that isn't something to be written in a positive light: if anything a writer, if they decided to show such an environment should write it with tones of disgust and condemnation. Though honestly such a unit shouldn't even exist to begin with: for breaking every conceivable military law and violating all sense of human decency such deplorable units and bases should be shut down.

Lastly when you write a Strike Witches Fanfic, when it comes to the cannon witches: keep the overall essence and spirit of these girls alive. Have them always act in character, or as close to as in character as you can write. Study their biographies, read source material that feature them. Not just for the 501st, but the girls of all the witch units; this all leads us back to the first chapter on the subject of research. Look at their interactions both on the surface and deep beneath the surface, look at their personalities, their interactions, their thoughts and feelings. Strike Witches fans expect to see their favorite girls growing, developing, experiencing new things and living their lives. Always ensure that the characters feel like that are the witches we all know and love and not some cheep knockoffs wearing dollar store brand masks that are masquerading and putting on a D-list performance while pretending to be our girls.

Ah! I almost forgot one other thing before finishing up which for the fans is an obvious one and for new comers to the series will address the elephant in the room: why the witches don't wear pants. Wither it's panties, tights, shorts, skirts, and in the case of Fuso Army Witches the Witch Combat Bracers, overall one of the main elements of the show is that every one of the witches uniform is half a uniform. The reason for the lack of pants is because of the nature of the striker unit requiring either skin contact or extremely form fitting leg articles like pantyhose and tights (which will be covered in a late chapter) and because active duty witches have be able to don their strikers quickly when an enemy attack arises. Another thing of note is that even non-witch women often go pants-less. Since the witches are often hailed as war hero's and celebrities many young girls and young women who are in the know often wear no pants as a show of support and devotion to the girls serving on the front-lines. Even those who don't know of the fame and idolatry of witches go pants-less, although in this case it is out of ignorance of witch fandom in universe of Strike Witches and just seeing everyone else wearing no pants and saying "eh, why not?" So far the only witch that wears pants regularly is Air Commodore Adolfine Galland, the highest ranking witch in military history.

Just remember everyone: it's called "Strike Witches". The story revolves around them in the anime and movie, it revolves around them tiger in desert novel and doujin series; it's the girls story. But if you are one of the writers who really want to write about a guy or from a different POV; have it be one of the mundane soldiers (and keep him a mundane solider) trying to fight in the nightmarish horrors of human on Neuroi warfare ( a scenario rife with drama, conflict and suspense), give him a relatable personality and as we watch his unit barley holding on or just about to be wiped out when, lo and behold, and angel in a striker unit from the flank on the land or aloft in the sky rushes forth and saves his unit from being destroyed. Or have other mundane military personnel or even views from the eyes of civilians reacting to these young girls of magical power helping, protecting and even saving them.

This is the Strike Witches series. The story is ultimately about the witches; that is the focus of the stories in cannon materials and it should remain the focus in Strike Witches Fanfiction. Even if it's from the POV's of other people within the verse, the focus should always be on the witches, the point is that these girls are the main hero's front and center, everyone else is part of the tertiary cast or supporting cast . Once a Strike Witches fanfic takes the spotlight _off_ the witches, then... well... it _stops_ being a Strike Witches story, now doesn't it? And for a Strike Witches Fanfic writer; that is that last thing we want to do**.**


	5. Chapter 5: Magic and Magical Sceince

Chapter 5: Magic, Magical Science and Physics

Witches possess magical power that is inherent to them; that is a given for every witch. However, not every innate magical ability is the same: some witches may share similar innate skills or even share abilities that may blend abilities of other spells to make a new one that is unique, but Magic abilities run the gaunt of types. Not only that, but Magic itself is different in Strike Witches compared to other forms of entertainment media that feature magic. Add to the fact magic comes in many shapes and forms and belongs to many different types of what is known as "Lineage". Also, while most innate magical abilities are inherited, there are some spells, although very few: that witches can learn. In this chapter we will be covering in detail magic, magical science and the laws of physics of the world and it's relation to magic.

Each and every witch that exists possesses an innate magical spell that is awakened when a witches powers begin to manifest, with control and access to the ether to activate and use these spells becoming easier, if not out and out possible when a witch forms a compact with a familiar. Although not every witches magic ability in the cannon verse of the cannon characters has been clearly and specifically detailed or chronicled in detail as of yet, the few witches that do have their magic spells and abilities recorded follow their own set of types and uses, and if carefully looked at one will find that that Magic in Strike Witches is unique. And what little abilities, actions and hints of some witches Magical power can be extrapolated to one degree or another. But to start this lengthy, comprehensive chapter: it may come to a surprise to many newcomers or casual viewers of Strike Witches to note that Strike Witches Magic is different compared to most types of magic found in high fantasy settings or your "Standard Magical Girl" Anime.

Fantasy based magic as well as your standard Magical Girl anime magic are often flashy, extravagant, bombastic and more often than not break the laws of physics and reality. They are powers that have ungodly and insane amounts of power and can be wielded easily and with little to no hindrance or drawback (unless of course you're looking at necromancy, black magic and blood magic but that's a whole other can of worms that won't be covered in this guide). And often times such magic is used quite frequently by such magic users and within their series.

Take a setting like Final Fantasy, Lyrical Magical Girl Nanoha, Sailor Moon or Dungeons and Dragons or any sort of other type of magical girl anime: look at the sorts of magic you can find in these series, how they function, what they can do and how they often break the laws of conventionally known and understood physics. Now: place these series and their magic's beside the series and magic of Strike Witches? Notice a difference?

While it is categorized as a Magical Girl Series, Strike Witches is avant-garde in that while it is a universe that has magic in it: that there are limits to this sort of magic. While still quite powerful for what it can do; magic in Strike Witches is bound by the laws of physics. It is logical. It's rational. It's even studied and taught as a science with the presence of Magic-Tech...in other words: The Striker Unit (which will be detailed in the next chapter). Not to mention actual spells are used quite conservatively, unlike the liberal application of magic in other anime series. It's important to keep in mind that if you plan on writing a witch and creating her powers: you must keep yourself grounded and not have anything that would break the laws of physics and approach magic creation with thought, care and reason as you would be when you enter science class. When one says "magic" it is easy to assume that automatically means that it already breaks the laws of physics and reality; but this is not the case in Strike Witches. Strike Witches magic must make sense: a witches abilities have a practical use on the battlefield and if you intend to create a witch that is a key piece of information to carry with you during witch creation. That means things like conjuring massive dungeon bypass beams, summoning a giant snake, assimilating tank cannons into your arms or "wash-basins-falling-on-your-head" types of magic and other such spells are by the laws of the Strike Witches world's physics, universe and magic science: impossible.

Magic is basically a witches ability to tap into the ether and on a scientific, molecular level manipulate the physical world around them to be able to use their inherent abilities and fight in battle. This may require some measure of basic understanding in science or chemistry, or at least a laymen's grasp of it, since in Strike Witches; magic is an honest to goodness science. The molecules, atoms and the periodic table of the elements are ever present and used. While ether is an energy that permeates the witches world and its application by witches as a witches spell or as a means of powering her Striker is known as "Magic", witches manipulating the ether simply in turn manipulate molecules, atoms and periodic elements through the ether and manipulates them for the witch to cast her spells or power her striker and otherwise influence the world around her. Strike Witches magic does not _break _the laws of physics: it _works with _the laws of physics. Simply keep this in mind if you intend to create a true Strike Witches fanfic.

To briefly recap: a witches Magic Shield (of which all witches are able to raise for protection) is a sort of barrier that is brought up to protect a witch from attack, not to mention that witches also have a magical field around their bodies to protect them to a limited degree from extreme hot or cold temperatures. Also their magic allows them to breath in low to zero oxygen environments for a period of time, and more importantly: protect them from the deadly Miasma that is spread by the Neuroi (possibly indefinitely). This latter point is why witches are vital in the war effort against the Neuroi, seeing as mundane soldiers can't get close to most Neuroi due to the spread of deadly Miasma.

Now each and every witch possesses an inherent magical ability, a permanent, essential characteristic of any given witch; that falls under something called "System Lineage" with variations being simply referred to as "Sub-System" or sometimes better known as "Series" , basically meaning a variation of a particular "System Lineage" of magic. This is a simple way that witches magic is categorized into the nature and type of magic's and in what capacity they are used.

Examples of the different types of magic present in the Strike Witches world are as follows: Attack System Lineage, Detection System Lineage, Intrinsic System Lineage, Telekinesis System Lineage, Perception System Lineage and Shield Control System Lineage. Any following examples of specific magic abilities are to be seen as a frame of reference for you to create your own inherent magic powers for your witches. A witches magic always has a name unique to the witch, regardless of the type and how similar it may or not be to another type of magic within its lineage.

Magic under the Attack System Lineage consist of spells that often are used as direct attacks against targets: such examples include Perrine's Tonnerre, Erica's Sturm or any other magic of a similar nature. For Tonnerre this magic ability is cast when Perrine manipulates the ether at her fingertips to build up an intense electro-static charge to create a sort of lightning burst around her that can hit multiple targets around her depending on how much she can throttle the ether. Sturm is the manipulation of gusts of ether to attack enemies; basically it's the ability of manipulate the air, divert the enemies attacks and facilitate a special flight in a normal condition. This sort of magic on its own requires little concentration on Erica's part, but if she did concentrate hard enough she would be able to focus Sturm into her hand as a ball of swirling, ether enriched wind to attack heavy armor of a Neuroi. Most Attack System Linage spells, while quite powerful, do have the drawback of having a sort of costly trade off of some sort aside from draining a witches magical reserves and endurance; for Perrine it can cause her hair to become frizzy and unruly, for Erica she ends up becoming tired and hungry. In addition there could be different variations of such magic abilities and even if the same or similar element each ability would react differently, like a single , powerful bolt of lightning be cast or a wave of sharp wind that can cut into an enemy. It's also conceivable for other elements or type of attack lineage abilities to exist outside of lightning or wind, such as fire for example, although the use of using pure, raw ether based attacks would be beyond rare to the point of being unheard of, or at least outside of using magi-tech based ether projection cannons (something that has yet to be seen in official cannon of the anime or series but could be seen as a potential prototype weapon. Just keep in mind of what "Prototype Weapon" means and be sure to portray this in your written work). Other examples include Lucchini's Light and Heat Attack which allows her the ability to directly concentrate, manipulate somewhat, and discharge magic energy in a multi-shield. Most types of Attack System Lineage abilities have an activation word that is spoken while cast, most likely to help focus a witches power and concentration in using their abilities, although it's conceivable for exceptions to exist in regards to the activation word. While it's possible for such magic to exist in as various types and nature, always keep in mind the limitations and science regarding such magic. Remember, these sorts of magic follow the laws of physics; they aren't born out of nothing: ether allows witches to manipulate the natural elements with the help of raw ether alongside it being used to manipulate the elements of the physical world, so they must be treated as such.

Detection System Lineage allow for witches to detect objects, people or events by means of magic that seem they would likely stem from the ethers affect on a witches brain wavelengths allowing them to be able to detect and/or anticipate something. Most of such magic abilities include most forms of inherently awakened powers such as Foresight much like Eila's power (the ability to see into the near future or other such reactions) or in the case of Sanya the Magic Radar that allows a witch to detect and manipulate radar and radio waves as well as detecting the energy signatures of Neuroi (Magical Radar is a taught magical ability, not a magic born to witches, but it and other taught magic will be discussed later) although there may be other such types of abilities not limited to these two types of magic spells. Exact details into Foresight and similar magic's even within the cannon of Strike Witches an ability not fully understood, and many witches have different ways of focusing such powers, from training, the use of Tarot Cards or any other means to hone their abilities. Magic belonging to Detection System lineage are frequently non-visual in nature, likely using other senses that are stimulated, enhanced or altered by ether reacting to the chemical, electromagnetic and possibly even the spiritual aspects of a witch using such powers. However, due to the nature of Detection system lineage the exact science and theory how the application, use and nature behind Detection System Lineage regarding Foresight and similarly designed spells effects a witches person or the world around them on a scientific level is hard to peg down even with active research into the subject. Although it's likely to follow some form of science, it is both in the fandom and in the cannon verse one that is shrouded in mysticism in one degree or another; therefore it lays in us Fanfic writers to interpret how such a magic on a scientific level (or any level really) works and influences the world's natural laws. Magical Radar meanwhile allows a witch to pick up and detect radio waves, making them akin to bats using echolocation to find prey and detect predators or like how most conventional types radar is used. It's a Military Magic that is difficult for witches to train in, let alone master, but those that do are vital and key witches to field in the fight against the Neuroi and are often relegated to the task of Night Patrols. Such magical girls are known as "Night Witches" or "Nacht Hexen" in Karlslandic. It's possible that there may be other types of Magical Abilities that fall under Detection System Lineage, as well as others that follow different parameters of use like Laura Toth's Sense Acceleration which allows her to improve her perception and thus analyze the attack of opponents quicker than normal but seeing as she can't predict of where someone or something will shoot at her or where the shots will be placed, she has to face her opponent in order to dodge the attack otherwise she cannot avoid it.

Although the following is merely speculation in regards to this; such a magical ability in function would likely be akin to a sharks lateral line being able to detect pressure waves and movement, likely allowing her to detect movement through the ether saturated air and react accordingly when she is able to see the movement of the pressure waves of movement and the ether reacting to it although it is limited since for Laura Toth she must make eye contact in order to make use of this ability. This is, once again, speculation, but it would go on to explain the science behind how magic of this sort works. Although there would be other types of magic that may have different roles, functions and capacities in the Detection Lineage, there still has to be a form of reasonable logic, however, as stated before, the exact functions and science behind Detection Lineage Abilities outside of Magic Radar is difficult to discern: unless extremely detailed research is done into how they could conceivably work are done such details of how such magic would work are best left ambiguous. It would be up to the individual authors to decide wither to explore this or simply keep it a mystery left unanswered.

Intrinsic Ability Lineage are magic that are oftentimes consist of intrinsic abilities that for most magic spells allow for witches to sync with their familiars and receive boons in their magic abilities and physical prowess. Such magic include various sorts of speed based magic like Shirley's "Speed Boost" and Francie's "Short-Ranged Speed-Up", as well as abilities used by witches like Wakamoto Tetsuko's "Awakening" which allows her to unite with her familiar in which her magic power is amplified more than usual and she becomes endowed with a great striking power and extremely high mobility, although it results in intense power consumption that could overload her and her striker, as well as Hayate Nakajima apparently being able to sync with her familiar and achieve heightened instincts and senses, although after long periods this would result in her becoming feral (as evidenced in the second volume of Strike Witches: Maidens of the sky). Intrinsic magic, like all other forms of magic; would likely consist of various type of magic that are of an intrinsic nature.

Telekinesis Lineage involves witches manipulating ether with their mind and to in-act their wills on ether in the world and channel it to perform the tasks at hand in specific ways. Most types of magic involve the alteration and changing of mass in a witches body, as well as affecting objects, atoms, molecules, cells or distributing and condensing ether for prepossess that aren't directly combat related. Examples include Lynne's two abilities of Ballistic stabilization which allow for a degree of control of bullets and Grant magic power which focuses extra ether into the bullets she fires for extra damage (her sister Wilma also has Ballistic stabilization abilities of greater power and control then her younger sister does), as well as abilities as Super Human Strength (Both for a witch increasing her own physical abilities referred to as physical reinforcement, and for a witch like Mami Inagaki she uses a type of superhuman strength that reduces the weight of what she carries and allows her to surpass the Striker Units normal carrying weight; which is thought to belong to the weight reduction-series of magic.

Another thing of note that would be of surprise to casual fans is that Healing Magic is categorized under Telekinesis Lineage magic. Classified as a variety of the telekinesis-lineage, it puts a living thing back to how it was by means of magic and is effective not only against external wounds but also diseases. In essence damaged cells are either rapidly repaired by reversing the damage on a sub-atomic level or the normal biological healing process is expedited to degrees beyond what is normal. Witches with healing magic act differently from each other: Yoshika's healing magic and Fernandia Malvezzi's healing magic are different in that Fernandia's healing magic possesses no soothing, morphine like effect to wounded people, as seen when she healed a painful lump on Lucchini's head that the Romagnan of the 501st complained about still feeling sore even after the wound was healed. It's likely that Yoshika's healing magic is unique in this regard and is probably not the norm for witches gifted in healing magic. Nipa also possesses a form of healing magic, but instead of healing others, it is instead used (by means of inherent design) to rapidly repair any wounds and injuries that Nipa suffers upon syncing with her familiar.

Moving on from there we move onto Perception Lineage. As it is defined in Wikipedia: "Perception is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the environment. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical or chemical stimulation of the sense organs. For example, vision involves light striking the retina of the eye, smell is mediated by odor molecules, and hearing involves pressure waves." Ergo: Perception Lineage consists of magic that deals in this realm of inherent abilities. Cannon examples include Minna's Three Dimensional Space Understanding and Mio's Magic eye, although it's possible that other types of magic abilities exist that are not constrained by these two types of series magic alone.

Minna's magic: Three Dimensional Space Understanding and magic of its series of lineage used by other witches can be thought of as a magical Command and Control based ability allowing for identification and position of allied and enemy units. It allows a witch to perceive and discern all nearby targets in every direction, sorting out their position, number and classification. Such magic often would serve Witch Commanders very well in the field, or witches that excel in roles Command and Control. It's likely to be non-visual in nature seeing as Minna doesn't require making eye contact with a target, either friendly or hostile, in order to use her spell. It's possible (although unknown for sure) that this magic is based more on some other form of senses that we have yet to see or understand.

Witches possessing Magic eyes are the range finders of witches. While Magic eyes are often difficult to master, they are never the less very powerful in what they accomplish, and after training over time such witches can hone their skills and learn to control their magic, allowing witches to visually spot targets at distance or that are hidden (with some effort). Witches with Magic Eyes must first learn to look for what they want and visualize finding what they are looking for. Most witches often use aids to help focus the use of their magic eyes, like eye patches, sniper scopes, covering an eye with their hands or possibly even sunglasses and aviator shades. After time training in their magic witches gifted with magic eyes can even spot the Cores of Neuroi; making them deadly in combat against the enemy. Magic of this sort are likely on the somewhat uncommon side, and while powerful in the role they carry out and fill, it requires a great degree of control and using it for too long could cause not only a drain on a witches magic reserves but also possibly strain a witches eyes (although this latter part is mostly hypothetical and is left up to an individual writers interpretation). Another form of perception based magic involving eyes include night vision allowing witches to see in low light or darkness, and is often a trait of quite a few night witches. There's also the possibility of other visual based magical powers like thermal vision, ultraviolet vision or others that may be of possibility, but these latter examples are mere speculation.

Of the magic's I have observed in much of the source material; one other sort of Lineage of magic is one that while not displayed in the anime or movie and not actually given an official name is a lineage of magic shown in "The Lion heart witch" doujin and light novel series and alluded to in the biographies of one or two witches that I have often hypothesized as what I call "Shield Control Lineage". Strictly speaking it cannot be said that this is an actual Lineage or magic system but I have seen a few sorts of magic of this sort in a small handful of cannon witches that pertained to the varied use of a witches shield, although it's equally likely that such shield abilities simply belong to a particular lineage like attack lineage and are a system that focuses on the use, control or even on occasion the weaponization of a witches shield in combat. But again wither shield abilities of these sorts are an actual lineage or not or if they belong to a previous or as of yet unknown lineage as a particular system of magic is open to interpretation.

It's rare for a witch to have more than one sort magic belonging to more than one linage or possessing more than one magic for lineage. Hanna Marseille is one such example of something called Deflection Shooting although her ability differs from most examples of deflection shooting; as explained in universe by observers is that while both parties are in the middle of performing complex maneuvers, Hanna sends in bullets at places where there isn't anything and the enemy just comes into her line of fire on its own. It is alleged that her ability is a combination of three different magics - future sight, Three Dimensional Space Understanding and Magic Bullet - but there are no definite conclusions to this. All that can be said is try to avoid overusing and abusing during witch creation as this is a highly uncommon trait to see in witches magic ability and for an OC witch could be considered or at least come off as somewhat overpowered if mishandled.

The Magical Shields that witches are well known for raising as protection is by far one of the greatest assets that a witch has in the war against the Neruoi. With their shield raised to protect themselves a witch is able to block bullets, lasers, some forms of melee attacks and can even soften blows and impacts while in flight or falling. A shield serves as a protective barrier or even a cushion for when a witch is in danger or under enemy fire. Neruoi lasers, judging from what has been seen of them: are able to output several thousand terawatts of weaponized light from their ports, and the fact that a witches shield can block such attacks quite handily indicates the massive, protective power that witches benefit from.

Another thing of note on a Witches shield is that usually a Witch is able to raise her shield directly in front of her, seeing as for the most part attacks come at a witch from directly in front of her, and is inherently the easiest place to raise a shield. Although it's possible for a witch to raise her shield facing from different directions (at her left or right flank, from behind or even at her feet or above her head) such shield control requires specialized, intensive training to become possible since it is not typical of a witch to raise her shield in such ways, and thusly is very difficult to learn and master. Not to mention that in universe many see the raising of a shield from the flanks, back and especially the feet to be rather gimmicky, although admittedly it's a very effective trump card in battle. Some witches however find this an easier skill to pick up compared to their peers depending on the individual, other witches can even throw up multi-shields, either for 360 degrees of protection of themselves and comrades or for creating massive walls and battering rams of protection or even improvised attack in needed.

Runes of a shield are different depending on the ethnicity of the witch in question, mostly based on an "East" and West" style of ruins, likely indicating the magical ties of the witch to whatever magical belief system or practice the witch belongs to. Eastern style shields (Primarily Fuso witches) consists of several different symbols and kanji relative to the magical linage of Eastern magics of Fuso and possibly similar styles for witches of the Great mongol empire. The shields of Fuso witches depict use a combination of Sanskrit and kanji. The primary body of the shield is also accompanied by a varied number of supporting circles: for Fuso witch shields their are three such magical circles that orbit around the main body of the shield with one of the supporting circles being large than the other two. Each of the symbols, ruins and writings upon a witches shield represents some aspect of the shields magical linage and hints at the functionality scientifically and spiritually for the shields use by the witch. In the center of the main body of Fuso shields and supporting circles appears to be an Asian styled Mandela; represented a sort of multi-point star like icon. Since a mandala is supposed to be used for focusing attention and spiritual energy, and as a meditative aid; it's symbol in the shield may represent the witches mental and spiritual control over herself and her magic to raise and maintain the shield. The kanji around the supporting shields on the Fuso shield are the kanji for Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water which represent the elements of the world being called upon by the witch to protect her, at least in a symbolic context. As a side note the kanji for Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water representing elements of the world are ironically classical elements found in Chinese philosophy instead of Japanese philosophy, though as of this writing it's uncertain what this means in the greater overall context of the verse though it could be implied the likelihood that witches of the Great Mongol Empire share similar shield markings.

Shields utilized by Western Witches meanwhile, while similar in function and use to their Eastern Counterparts, utilize different markings and writings upon them: representing different origins, cultural and theological specifically as well as a different magical system. Their are writings on Western Shields that are in Greek, not Latin as one would initially expect; indicating magical linage origins in ancient Greece that was likely transposed to Rome. Taking into account the fact that all the letters are large and capitalized near the outer edge on the shield, and if one were to look at the context of these capital letters in a scientific context it's possible to extrapolate what they represent when applied in regards to ether and magical energy and magic mass and the general elements required to bring up and maintain a shield. Beneath two of these primary words (top and bottom respectively) are a set of written words that also appear to be Greek in nature though what they say or represent is at the time of this writing unknown. The flower designs at the center of the shields serve as eastern mandalas, allowing the witch to concentrate on maintaining the spell or at least representing a witches concentration on maintaining her shield. Around the Mandala's of Western witches shields are 4 Greek words that surround the mandala.

Also around the Mandela are four effigies of a four armed cross underneath a coat of arms are a series of written words and in to account the fact that all the letters are large and capitalized near the outer edge on the shield, and if one were to look at the context of these capital letters in a scientific context it's possible to extrapolate what they represent when applied in regards to ether and magical energy and magic mass and the general elements required to bring up and maintain a shield. However, original attempts at translation of the main four words had only rendered only gibberish. However, after further study to understand the meaning of these Greek words: I managed to come to the realization that these four large worlds are possibly not the names of elements,actual words, phrases or sentences but are instead perhaps a form of mathematical and scientific formula pertaining to the use and functionality of a witches shield.

To elaborate: the "words" found on the shield include following sequences of uppercase Greek letters:

Γ γ=Gamma  
Β β=Beta  
Ρ ρ=Rho  
Ψ ψ=Psi  
Α α=αλφα Alpha  
Α α=αλφα Alpha

Α α=αλφα Alpha  
Ω ω=O-mega  
Ρ ρ=Rho  
Ψ ψ=Psi  
Α α=αλφα Alpha  
Α α=αλφα Alpha

Μ μ=Mu+  
Ψ ψ=Psi  
Κ κ=Kappa  
Α α=αλφα Alpha  
Α α=αλφα Alpha

Ρ ρ=Rho  
Π π=Pi  
Α α=αλφα Alpha  
Α α=αλφα Alpha

Given the mostly scientific aspects of magic in the witches world the sequences of Greek letters would seem to be indicators of the scientific equations and formula that pertain the magic shields use. What sort of equations and what they represent is at this time for myself as a fan of the series and a writer difficult to discern since these letters of the Greek alphabet have multiple uses in several different fields, although it can be supposed to represent so aspect regarding the magic shields nature and possible functionality. The question of wither the Greek letters represent a mathematical proof is questionable and to some degree unlikely since it would than leave the question of what the numbers mean, represent and calculate so the only substantial theory represent some sort of scientific calculation. For example: the upper case Γ, or Gamma, would likely represent either a Circulation in fluid mechanics (basically calculating the rotation of magic shields when raised) or as reflection coefficient in physics. Meanwhile B, or Beta in Scientific unit notation it is used as a particle (the particle in this case likely being raw ether particles). P or Rho, in a scientific context refers to densities, specifically mass density (which would be in reference to the mass density of the shield when it's brought up for protection and the density of the magic mass being used to throw up the shield), Ψ, or Psi, likely would calculate and reference the Quantum mechanics the shield operates under and the behavior of the magical energy when a shield is raised. Now the trickier part comes with the two A, or Alphas, since given the fact Alpha has a larger list of multiple meanings, it could be in reference to various concepts of physics, and given the context such aspects in regard to the witches shields: one A could represent the angular speed (rotational speed) of the shield and the axis about which the object is rotating, and the second A.

In any case the European/Greek shield iconography from European witches is a lot more obscure, esoteric and complicated compared to that of Asian/Fuso shields icons and kanji. Further study and aid of translation directly from any people's from Greece with first hand knowledge of the Greek language will be needed in order to better understand the writings of Eastern Witches Shields.

Of particular note is that western Shields poses four supporting shields compared to the three of the Fuso shields. These Supporting shields consist of in terms of size of one large supporting shield, two smaller supporting shields of equal size to one another and an even smaller supporting shield than the others that not only orbits the first, larger supporting circle of the shield but seems to be following in a different orbit than the other 3 supporting shields.

While it's not fully known what these elements of a witches shields represent or how magic shields "work" in general on a magical-scientific level with definitive certainty their are a few theories. The supporting circles are theorized to help support the integrity of the shield in some way; with one theory stipulating that the irregular spacing is supposed to create an irregular shield harmonics pattern to prevent Neuroi lasers form drilling through them, kind of like how composite armor works on modern tanks: calling on different spiritual elements and sources to help harmonize defensive magic that a witch calls upon to protect herself.

Frankly speaking however, in regards to the Greek writings upon the Eastern Witches Shields, even the above theory is only that: a mere theory. Until I gather more evidence or until persons with greater knowledge on the Greek language that can translate such writings of the Eastern Witches shields, information in this chapter pertaining to this particular subject and topic are to be taken with a grain of salt and may in fact be not entirely cannon but merely a personal attempt at trying to understand and extrapolate the meaning of these Greek words and their context in relation to a western witches shield.

An important thing to remember about a witch and her magic is that even though they are very powerful, witches are not unstoppable: they do have their limits. They may be able to push their limits far beyond what any mundane human being is capable of, but a witches magic shield provides protection for a limited time. Witches will burn through their magic and their shields can break. When a witches shield goes down, is bypassed and\or punched through or if she cannot raise that shield in time or in the right direction at a moment's notice then she is extremely vulnerable. While it's good to show the raw power and ability of what a witch can do, be sure to balance it out by showing the limits of a witch. Witches are vital trump cards against the Neuroi but even witches are still human; they have limits to give.

The next item to on the agenda to talk about are the Magical radar (a magic of detection system liniage) and taught magical skills and abilities. Magic spells that are taught are highly rare to see in the Strike Witches world with the currently most used and prominent example being magical radar. We will start with that as our first talking point on such taught magic.

Magical Radar is a military based magic developed and used as a means of detecting Neuroi and as stated before is a tool used by Night Witches. Magical Radar allow a witch to interact with radio waves and is a type of non-visual perception that can detect objects at extreme ranges. Witches even can use a spell to provide guidance cues to other witches and aircraft and are able to tune in and rebroadcast radio transmissions, and overall can explore the combat zone via use of magic. It is a magic spell that is difficult to train in and master, but witches with decent aptitude or pure natural gifts in magical control and a healthy helping of experiences in some cases are able to learn using magical radar and it takes a great deal of time and effort for a witch to master Magical Radar. It's noted and hypothesized that most Night Witches possess two kinds of magic: Magical Radar, which they are taught, and their inherent awakened magic.

Moving onto other trained magic: in the history of the Strike Witches verse there may have been other taught magic's that were used in Strike Witches ancient history: it was stated that humanity and witch-kind had to seal "monsters" and "demons" (read these as "Neuroi") away, indicating that there were spells that used to seal Neuroi away in pocket dimensions, possibly even spells made to trap and ensnare Neruoi to be sealed away. Sealing magic was hinted strongly at existing in the Witches of the Sphinx Doujin when Soldiers and witches, including Major Miles of 4th Armored Brigade, C company, stumbled upon the Anonymous Metropolis (also referred to as the Pyramid with no name): which it was discovered that a magic seal was placed on the Metropolis to seal away Neuroi during the times of ancient Egypt. The seal was accidently broken due to soldiers and witches inadvertently disrupting the grounds and their by breaking the seal that was cast sealing the Neuroi nest and the Neuroi within.

Trained magical spells are likely highly rare to come by in world by the time of the 1940's, and it's possible that some spells like Neuroi sealing and restraint spells have been forgone by this time due to reasons or practicality: it's much more expedient and less dangerous spending time killing a Neuroi then it is trying to seal or capture it, although wither such magic can make a resurgence is another question. Other taught magic's likely follow the same practical details that a witches inherent spells do. Also these would likely be ancient spells of antiquity used for much different reasons in a time period long past into history. It could be possible to see spells that probe the minds of others, spells crafted to provide varying degrees of stealth, or even spells that could allow a witch to become a fully functioning Futanari to help increase a failing or otherwise dwindling population(although I'd recommend to look up the definition of the word Futanari if you are unfamiliar with it: I'd advise you to do so at your own risk, seeing as some people may find it to be... weird). This particular sort of spell might still be seen floating around every now and again, but it wouldn't exactly be found frequently or be kept as common knowledge, likely found only in a few select public and/or private libraries, possibly in the hands of medical academia as well. One thing to keep in mind for such taught magic outside of magical radar is that most of them would be highly unlikely to be found easily, and most would be extremely old spells of antiquity and therefore would be rare and for the most part not be common knowledge outside of one or two. Such spells should have a reasonable, logical use for the time period. Remember not to overuse or abuse the use of taught spells: in cannon it is so far very, very rare to see such spells, and even rarer to see them in action; it's quite possible that the ability to craft such spells is a highly difficult, complicated science that may have either been lost to the sands of time or is knowledge kept by a very low, hard to find percentage of the world's population, and it's also very likely that the only Modern Spell as of yet crafted in recent times would have been the Magical Radar.

Also such spells should have a logical function and reason for existing for the time period they were crafted in (I.E. Ancient times): it would make much more sense in the context of the world that a very old spell allowing two witches to conceive a child would be seen existing and possibly even still seeing use, if being somewhat uncommon to see used in practice; seeing as an ancient spell of this sort would be able to help boost the human population in times of grim and dire scenarios such as during instances involving the black plague (as even healing witches would have their hands full during such a wide sweeping crisis like this), natural disasters that are huge and widespread (such as the eruption of Pompeii amongst others) and during times of large scale, prolonged warfare against the Neuroi (human wars in the Strike Witches universe tend to be rather small and short in scale and timeframe, although some exceptions may exist; further details of such instances will be covered in Chapters 8 and 10.) In comparison an ancient spell allowing for magical contraception to prevent pregnancy would in comparison make little to no sense seeing as in the ancient world most people would be concerned with bearing children rather than preventing the conception of children, not to mention that mundane forms of contraception exist and are much easier to make and get a hold of (although the 1940's style condom isn't exactly cutting edge in this time frame and don't allow for much pleasure for either party involved... I can't stress this enough and matters of such nature will be covered in chapter 10 in greater detail). The creation of such ancient, taught magic's should be seen as extremely uncommon knowledge or as a long lost and forgotten scientific art; and are incredibly difficult to craft and would require some degree of preparation to cast and a healthy amount of skill to use. These are spells that for the most part should be found in ancient tome's that have been lost, forgotten or only recently discovered and difficult to decipher and hard to cast for a mere novice, although to be honest everything regarding ancient taught magic stated above is mere conjecture at this point in time.

Another example of taught magic are ancient combat technique's like the Reppuzan. as described in the Strike Witches Wiki: originally, this technique was something that comes under the telekinesis-lineage. this means that, for non-telekinesis-lineage Witches like Sakamoto, acquiring it and using it would be next to impossible a task that if pursued for such witches could end up causing problems for them. In part, she managed to do so by first mastering Kuroe Ayaka's "Unyou" and then using it as a foothold for her training. A secret sword technique transmitted in Fuso since time immemorial, there is also an acme further above it: "Shin Reppuzan". Taught abilities like this are, much like taught magical spells, very uncommon to come across, and would require a great deal of training to use, in addition to that fact the question of Lineage Compatibility playing a very key factor.

An important thing to always remember is that a witches weapon gets imbued with magic and into their bullets when there weapon is placed in their hands, in addition to the possibility that her magic makes the bullets both more powerful and possibly weakens a Neuroi's thick armor and somewhat disrupts their regenerative abilities, seeing as being hit by mundane weapons has little effect but being shot at by witches and their weapons seems to do more damage. Wither this is confirmed as true or not in cannon remains to be seen, but if anything a mundane weapon in the hand of a witch becomes far more powerful then it were in the hands of a mundane soldier, seeing as witches have an easier time fighting and defeating Neuroi then mundane troops and vehicles do. A witches power seems to have great effect on destroying Neuroi then un-augmented mundane arms so be sure your stories involving Strike Witches reflect this.

Another aspect of magic is that it can be imbued into weapons, objects and equipment to provide special property's, It can be imbued into a weapon durring the crafting stage to be made more powerful then normal, it can be imbued into helmets and armor for better protection for a witch, It's rumored that Fuso Witches wearing Miko style shrine maiden clothing have fiber that are magical treated to boost a witches magical power by about 5% (although such cloths are likely used by very rich family's or the families of Fuso royalty or the members of Samurai family's). Imbuing magic into objects and weapons require a great deal of time and effort to provide unique magical properties, and is something that is infrequently done by most, although people who are dedicated weapons and armor smiths and those responsible for making particular equipment and imbuing magic into woven fabrics for cloths and even possibly magically treating the components of Strikers are within the realm of possibility of a Strike Witches fan writer, simply be aware of the time, effort, resources and logistics involved in these things should you decide to explore these elements.

The last topic we will briefly touch upon is Magic Engineering. Engineering is defined as the application of scientific, economic, social, and practical knowledge in order to invent, design, build, maintain, research, and improve structures, machines, devices, systems, materials, and processes. The discipline of engineering is extremely broad, and encompasses a range of more specialized fields of engineering, each with a more specific emphasis on particular areas of applied science, technology and types of application. In the case of Magic Engineering, this would logically mean that such a field would look at the scientific and practical accumulation of knowledge and practical application of magic and the either witches draw on, the powers and abilities they use, the magical mass that they output and of course other uses and applications of magic in everyday life; up to and including the theories, construction, magical engineering and scientific applications, study and design of Striker Unit, likely falling under both Magical Engineering and Striker Theory fields. By far all engineering and scientific fields involving magic commonly and predominantly feature all theories, research and ultimately development of Striker Units as the forefront of study and application. That being said it's likely that Magic Engineering could be reasonably be applied in other areas outside of Striker Unit development, or rather done so in ways to help witches, both in the military and in everyday life, primarily it seems (if not solely) in the aspects of striker unit development and the development of witch combat weapons and witch equipment but it is without question one of the foundations and primary pieces of the equation regarding all knowledge, study, testing and development of strikers and the application of striker technology in modern life.

Though, given the fact that only witches are capable of using magic, and the fact that other various technologies of the time clearly of a conventional, non-magical nature, as well as how unrealistic it would be to attempt to make everything magi-tech in nature: it's likely most applications in magical technology are restricted to striker unit's, magical weaponry and equipment meant to aid, assist and/or enhance a witches abilities, powers and everyday life as a magic user. Outside of striker units all forms of technology are clearly shown to be conventional in nature.

However, having covered all of the above: it's important to keep in mind, while in many ways their are aspects of the witches world magic and magical science that seems to posses some logic, science and universally consistent laws: it is also at the same time, wither in part or in whole, are also fairly abstract and even spiritual in nature. Magic in strike witches doesn't outright break reality, but it does bend it a little, and some powers like Eila's ability to see into the future, being a more fantastical, spiritual magical ability and aspect is likely unable to be explored and analyzed though conventional, realistic logic and/or science. Due to it's fantastic, spiritual and overall abstract nature, if their is any sort of science theory's, and if this ability or others like that of such nature are to be explored: it would have to be done in a way that is itself fantastic, spiritual and abstract. That's just the nature of the particular magic and would likely be the desired method to approach exploring the crunch if you were inclined to do so as a writer.

Keep in mind that the above specific magic's pertaining to witches inherent magic abilities and the lineage they fall under are simply examples that can be used as guidelines to creating magic spells and abilities for witch characters, but demonstrate that while yes the SW world has magic it isn't the sort of epic, high fantasy type magical abilities or magic that is seen in other, more common Magical Girl Anime. Strike Witches magic is more of a science based, logical magic, which is something that can be felt when SW is paired up side by side other magical girl Anime. Be sure to keep this all in mind when writing a Strike Witches Fanfic; it will help you greatly when it comes to finally show what your witches can do when mere arms of men aren't enough and a witch decides to call forth her magical power into the field of battle.

Remember, in Strike Witches: Magic is a science. It has to be viewed, handled and approached as such when you write a Strike Witches fic, at least in terms of it's functionality on the worlds physics... be sure to also keep in mind despite this; that their appears to be a spiritual, if somewhat ethereal source to the witches magic powers and abilities. Be sure to keep these abilities reasonable, grounded and practical for your girls. But while working within this particular set of guideline: be as creative as you can and see what sort of inherent witch abilities you can make. If you need help for inspiration in witches magic, you can look at source official material, read up on the 78th Tame Witches Himegoes, blazes's story involving his OC witch unit in "Iron Within" or even looking up bookmarkahead's witch unit the 522d Citadel Witches on deviant art so as to get a feel for a witches magical abilities. What powers lie within the very being of your witch?


	6. Chapter 6 Striker Technology

***Edit: after doing some research I found official source material from Shimada that goes on record that the offical designation for "Land Battle Witches" is in fact "Mechanized Armored Infantry", so that has been added for the sake of providing accurate information into the official term for witches that utilize the tracked combat leg.**

* * *

Chapter 6: Striker Technology

By far the most integral and iconic parts of the Strike Witches Series and it's verse that make it readily identifiable, unique, avant-garde and special as an Anime and as a series: is the Striker Unit. Being the most well known flagship of the Mecha Musume genre, Strike Witches best encapsulates the perfectly blended union of Human and Machine, and the Striker Unit makes the series recognizable and is one of the reasons for it's popularity, amongst other elements. However, many casual fans and newcomers seem to have many questions surrounding the Striker Unit: primarily regarding it's function, how it works and other questions involving it's history and operation. In this chapter we will be covering everything from the mechanics of strikers, to the history of strikers, and the types and behaviors of Striker Units. Do note that this chapter will be quite extensive and comprehensive in detail.

The Striker Unit is a complex, intricate piece of magical technology and a grand feat of Magic Engineering steeped in a surprisingly long history. The first Striker Units were created during the turn of the 18th century and utilized primarily a steam powered magic engine, specifically during the year of 1765: in which the Magic Power Revolution began and the Striker Unit's birth being attributed to a Britannian Witch named Jeremy Watt who discovered a technique to amplify magic power with a steam engine. These inventions helped to pave way for more innovations such as the introduction of the Striker Units in the 20th century. (As a quick note this is a shout out to the Scottish inventor James Watt, the creator of the Steam Engine during the industrial revolution) it can be assumed that initially they were of ingenious design but may have still had flaws and limitations and efficiency problems.

By 1914 the development of backpack based strikers were developed and had seen use either half way through or during the last legs of the 1st Neuroi war or sometime after the war during the inter-war period. These particular units are powered by an extra backpack which reduces space that a which can better use to carry equipment, munitions and otherwise makes things difficult in terms of carrying capacity due to the lack of room, probably affected flight and were mostly based on interwar period fighters and tanks and had a much lower top speed then 1930's strikers. However, they were sometimes more agile than the new Striker Units due to their lightweight nature. Any witch that had been fighting and flying before the Second Neuroi War had probably used this model. However a major design flaw was that if the backpack was damaged, destroyed or malfunctioned it would affect the whole striker system and could result in a witch in the sky falling to the ground bellow, or if there were Mechanized Armored Infantry strikers a witch would be reduced to half of her effectiveness in battle since the overall unit would be useless.

By the mid 1930's (specifically 1936) Joint development of Striker Units begins in Britannia and Ichiro Miyafuji was as a result called to Europe. During this time development into Combustion Engine based Striker Units utilizing the Miyafuji theory have begun development with the prototypes of new model Strikers that adopt the Miyafuji Theory being completed in many countries. In 1938: for many nations, the mass-production of Striker Units that adopt the Miyafuji Theory have gotten up and running by that point. The year of 1939 heralds the official start of the 2nd Neuroi War (even though some skirmishes occur through-out the 1930s, with 1937 being the year which humanity sees the famous "Fuso Sea Incident" take place.)

Surprisingly, after doing some research into the subject, Backpacked Strikers could allow a witch to maintain her magic well into her twenties, possibly even beyond. However, apparently the reason for a witches magic failing as it does in the anime during the 1940's Strikers operating under the Miyafuji Theory appear to drain magic faster than the older backpack units and their by shorten and lower the magical viability of most witches, which could very well explain how witches like Mio lose their powers to varying degrees: the early prototypes also had a flaw that carried into the first production Striker Units of using a great amount of magical energy. Many witches burned out their entire lifetime of magical power during the development phase of such trials.

With the history of the striker complete we will now look at the Striker Unit itself. A Striker Unit is pair of hybrid mechanical/magical devices used by Witches for flight and fighting and worn over their legs, while aerial based strikers are rigid and prevent movement of the knees for the sake of maintaining aerodynamics, they can be disengaged in the field if needed. There are officially two types of striker units: Air Infantry Combat Legs (Utilized by what is known as Mechanized Air Infantry witches) and Mechanized Armored Combat Legs or Land Battle Tracked Legs (Utilized by what is known as Mechanized Armored Infantry or alternatively Land Battle Witches or "Tank Witches"), although semi-officially Shimada has also depicted Navel based striker units in his works, but for this chapter we will only focus on Air Infantry and Armored Infantry Striker Units seeing as they feature the most prominence in the source material. Also while their is the possibility of strikers featuring designs based off of other vehicles (Armored Car derived strikers with "wheel dashing", possessing very light shields, reaching far greater speeds than tank based strikers and often using the lightest of witch combat weapons, Universal carrier strikers with light shields and featuring specialized large capacity carrying packs, harnesses and carrying rigs to carry supply's and munitions for comrades and using either the lightest of weapons, pistols and knives or having no weapon at all, or other such possible designs) it appears that strikers designed off of tanks and aircraft are the most common and see the most widespread use.

A Striker Unit consists of several intricate parts: for example, a Mechanized Air Infantry Flight Combat Leg consists of: the Magic Engine, the combustion engine, a magical controller and amplifier, a generator (to form the ethereal props of a striker unit), and intake manifold, as well as the body. Air infantry based strikers also poses a "leg bracing module " at the top of the striker what helps prevent a witches knee from bending in order to preserve aerodynamic flight, although this module can be taken apart in the field so a witch can kneel and easily disengage her striker out in the field. Some strikers may also poses a simple landing gear consisting of ether a fixed or retractable wheel on each leg of the unit for landings. Aerial based strikers (in particular ether jet strikers ) may also have an emergency release cable added to the unit in case the strike fly's out of control and is engaged in case of emergencies for quickly detaching a witch from an out of control striker unit. All Strikers also poses a magic limiter that makes the magic and combustion engines cut out in order to prevent overloading and damaging the striker unit or in some cases prevent a prototype striker from draining too much of a witches magic and potentially putting the health and safety of a witch at unnecessary, undo risk. The generators of strikers are where the propellers of air infantry strikers is manifested. Although it's not exactly confirmed how solid magically manifested propellers are, it can only be assumed that if someone came too close to the magic propellers spinning blades it would be the same if you would walk into the blades of a full-sized aircraft... in other words: it would get very messy, very fast.

Mechanized Armored infantry tracked combat legs consist of several identical components: the Magic Engine, the combustion engine, a magical controller and amplifier, magic shock absorbers, and various other components... but for their role as a land based unit they utilize a generator built into the track component to permit track-dashing maneuvers and allowing the magical field to help augment and enhance a witches track-dashing abilities.

Striker Units utilize a pocket dimension utilizing dimensional transfer technology that houses a witches legs, allowing the witch to wear the striker unit in what many would rightly assume to be a device jam-packed with mechanical parts. Due to the nature of the striker unit's pocket dimension transfer technology when a striker is destroyed anywhere below the knee of the witch the leg of the witch doesn't get lost. However it is possible for a witch to lose her leg from injury at or above the knee or after the destruction of the striker unit that had once held her leg. In addition, as is a very often the case of air infantry, the loss of one striker presents a tactical problem as this only allows for a single source of propulsion; torque and flight that for most air infantry witches is difficult to control, and makes flying for most witches exceptionally difficult and for novice and trainee witches is impossible to control and compensate for: only experienced and veteran witches know of how to best control their flight with a single striker unit and compensate for the loss of balancing torque while in flight. It appears though observation that this specialized pocket dimension, opened using dimensional transfer technology, permits a witch the ability to interface, operate and manipulate the inner workings of her striker unit as if it were a part of her body: a witch is able to become one with her machine and permits the striker to respond with her magic, her controls and her will as though it were actually a part of her. Strikers require direct skin contact to wear, and witches have to contend with very short notice and increasingly erratic times of engagement from the enemy with requires the witches to sortie at a moment's notice; this explains why most active duty witches must forgo the use of pants, long legged shorts and long skirts; such clothing would get in the way of either interfacing with, maneuvering with or simply flying efficiently with such clothes. The only things a witch could conceivably wear as bottom wear for both skin contact, ease of movement and aerodynamics are panties, pantyhose, extremely short shorts, miniskirts, and for witches of Fuso; Miko Outfits, swimsuits and a type of form fitting arm and leg armor known as Witch Combat Bracers (bracers are often worn by Fuso Army Witches).

Upon activation of a Striker Unit there appears as what is known as an "Activation Circle": a magic circle that appears whenever a witch activates the magic engine of her striker upon docking with her unit. The activation circle consists of geometric shapes, mechanical iconography and and other such machine based symbolism that may possibly be representative of the nature and magical origins and function of the Striker Unit. Also of note that Activation Circles are devoid of any and all theological runes, writing, symbols and iconography and instead seem to be solely made up of various mechanical and geometric shapes and the Eastern spiritualism or Western based mythology/mathematical formulas found in the shields of eastern and western witches are, as already noted: completely absent in Activation Circles.

While it is uncertain in relation to cannon what this means without citation of cannon source material, the following regarding a Strike Unit's activation circle is a pure educated guess and mere theory.

In the center of the Activation Circle is a massive gear/cog that likely represents the striker itself; the gear is superimposed over some sort of shapes and patterns that seem to represent the magical nature of the striker and the magic energies it influences, uses and feeds off of. In addition, around the gear is the effigy of a cross with arrows pointed outwards: this could possibly represent the magical and ethereal energies that connect and feed into the striker. Surrounding that in turn is an entire wheel work of light rectangles and squares with small spaces on the left and right, all surrounded by a solid dark line encircling them that initially seemed odd to me, but the epiphany came to me that this might represent symbolically the pocket dimension that allows the witch to dock with the machine that is the striker unit. Lastly are the eight prong like objects surrounding the activation circle with "bridge truss" styled imagery beneath them and surrounding the other aforementioned symbols of the striker activation circle. It can be supposed that the prongs might actually represent the witch themselves and the truss icons could represent the witches connection to the machine.

All this would, in essence, indicate that the striker is a device of pure science and magic engineering; not relying on what we would know as "spells" of any kind in it's construction (also supported by the fact that a photo on the Strike Witches wiki displaying a dissembled striker shows no spells or anything of such a nature written onto the striker or it's corresponding parts). All this would seem to indicate that the striker is purely scientific feat of magical engineering unrelated to Eastern or Western Magic systems used by witches: it does seem to utilize a sort of magic science based theory that currently no one in our world or a world outside the Strike Witches verse has been able to utilize, implement or are even familiar with or aware of. It's possible that the strikers mechanical parts operate under a scientific and engineering theory that can manipulate and be powered by either at the interfacing with and will of a witch and her magic.

Scientists, researchers and striker mechanics and manufacturers are constantly seeking to study and improve upon existing striker designs that utilize the Miyafuji Theory, with Magic engineering forming the groundwork for such development. There are a handful of striker manufacturing companies worldwide working together with Military R&amp;D as well as professors in magical science to help in development of Strikers. It is somewhat common practice for military witches assigned to units tasked with performing trials or seeking help from witch aces to test new Striker Designs. The construction and maintenance of Striker Units is a very intricate and meticulous process, requiring a certain familiarity in their construction. While striker units may look the same, peeling back the metal casing will reveal that each striker has different mechanical guts on the inside. A mechanic or witch who has mechanical skills and inclinations who knows how to maintain, tune or modify a Spitfire wouldn't necessarily know how to do the same for a Mustang or a Flak-Wulf unless they went out of their way to learn, or if it was a unit that was on lend-leased in bulk and was as common for them to maintain as a striker from their homeland.

Striker Units not only run on a witches magic, they also boost the power of a witches magic and her shields, as well as boosting her physical abilities providing greater power and protection then if a witch were without her Striker. Air Infantry Combat Flight Leg Strikers are often referred to as "the modern day witches broom" and Tracked Combat Legs as "The Modern Magic Wand" hyperbolically. While there are many different types of striker units with each one possessing its own quirks, strengths and weaknesses, they fulfill the same basic function: to boost a witches magical powers. All striker units reflect traits respective of the aircraft or vehicle they are patterned off of. The Mechanized Air Infantry Flight Combat Leg, better known as the Air Infantry Striker, is a unit designed to provide witches the ability to fly and engage enemy aerial units in combat or attacking ground targets from the sky, using speed, maneuverability and a great deal of well trained aerobatics. Air Infantry have garnered great fame thanks to propaganda films that were made in Fuso, and various aces of air combat further adding to the fame of Mechanized Air Infantry. However, it was the Air Infantry Combat Flight Leg that helped push humanities witches through the skies.

Air Infantry Strikers often fill different roles: most are standard fighters like the P-51, Ultramarine Spitfire, Yak-3, and Various other aircraft that were ideal for a variety of dog fighting roles, high altitude scouting and recon, air superiority, interceptors, armed escort, air attack, air infiltration, night fighters, navy carrier fighters and other other roles although each and every Striker handled and performed differently between each nations aircraft, even handling and performance being different comparing older model machines with newer models. For strengths some had higher turning radius, others had better weapons stability, some having better climb and acceleration, some having slightly stronger shields for their class, others having good recovery, and the flaws were also varied between each machine depending on the craft in question.

There were heavy fighter class Air Infantry Strikers like the Messercharff Bf110C/D, Jungfrau Ju 88, F7F-3N Tigercat, and others that had, at least compared to other air infantry striker units; very strong shields, better carrying capacity and longer range and somewhat higher altitudes compared to most strikers, but sacrificed top speed and manuverabvility and combustion engine acceleration. Frequently such strikers were used for long ranged night patrols, long range day/night bombing or for massive, large scale engagements against a multitude of enemies and as general heavy attack air units to implement against heavily armored air targets. As a result of this machines more desirable traits, quite a few Night Witches equip such striker units.

Ground Attack Strikers such as the Stuka, P-47, Ilyushin Il-2 and Curtin SB2C Helldiver were strikers best suited for fast attacks against ground targets as well as bombing runs and dive bomb attacks against land based Neuroi and ground targets, possessing superior assent and descent, good acceleration and are well balanced mechanically for the role of carrying bombs although shields were likely weaker than most and having on average somewhat sub-par maneuverability compared to standard fighter strikers, though this is likely varied. Also due to the nature of the missions they were used in and, quite a few Witches using Ground Attack Strikers, the Stuka in particular, unsurprisingly found themselves making crash landings in the field, causing considerable, various injury for the witches in question. However, again, depending on the craft, Ground attack strikers had speeds, maneuverability and varied shields depending on make and model. Armament however was problematic however because for bombing runs more often then not witches had to carry bombs in their bare hands or by means of a device specifically designed for witches to carry and deploy bombs: much like the one used by Giuseppina Cenni. While it's possible that some Ground attack strikers utilize wither bomb carrying clamps on the unit or possibly even pocket dimensions utilizing dimensional transfer technology to carry bombs in pocket dimensions in the strikers, the former would be difficult to fly with due to increase in weight and present flying and combat hazards depending on the size. And even if it's the lightest bomb a witch would carry it would in turn sacrifice it's explosive power as a result, rendering less effective to targets. Because of this need to carry bombs by hand: witches are hard pressed to carry the weight of a firearm and assorted ammo into battle due to encumbrance. Half of such witches who carried bombs into battle often forgone all weapons save for perhaps a sidearm, while the other half who opt to carry both bomb and their primary weapons which would mean having to contend with the added weight. Alternatively for the latter dimensional transfer technology to house bombs in pocket dimensions in the strikers, if they do exist: would still be in it's infant stages and be considered a new application of pocket dimension access technology would likely be highly expensive, unrefined and as likely for the 1940's would have a limited holding capacity and therefore be highly uncommon to the point of rarity to see in the field. However to add to this, it is noted that bombs are of limited effectiveness in combat against Neruoi and are generally of little effect to certain Neuroi platforms, and in general are of questionable practicality in direct Neruoi combat roles; therefore alternate ground attack weapons, like the BK37: 37mm anti-armor gun's that are modified to be used by Karlsland Stuka Witches; are often used as a more effective combat weapon. It's likely that aside from bombs that ground attack witches of other nations use similar anti-armor auto-cannons modified for witch use and provide comparable output of magic mass to that of some Mechanized Armored Infantry witch combat guns. In addition, much like the actual famous, or depending on the source; infamous aircraft, the Stuka Striker possesses 'The Jericho Trumpet"; commonly and informally known as "The Stuka Siren" was a staple of both the actual aircraft and of the Striker Unit that was patterned after it. The Jericho Trumpet was used to instill fear in enemy ranks as well as both siren and striker serving as an ever growing propaganda tool for the Karlasland Military's troops and for the countries citizens, although the Jericho Trumpet at times even helped boast the moral and mental fortitude of the witch pilot in combat against ground targets by instilling a sense of empowerment, strength and control over Neruoi units she engaged. It can be reasonably speculated that sometimes this moral boost given to Stuka Witches by the Jericho Trumpet may have at times worked too well; making some Stuka witches over confident and cocky in the field and could be held as a factor responsible for so many injury's among witch pilots that flew Stuka's in their service.

Light Air Unit Strikers like the L-3 "Grasshopper", Fieseler Fi 156 Storch, Taylorcraft Auster and others of this class are often utilized as aerial scouts, pathfinders, short range aerial patrols, observation, and Liaison roles as well as training recruit witches in the military. Due to their nature they are also adapt at filling out roles related to providing some air medical witches with a light, slightly quick, nimble unit in the field. Although they would likely have very light shields in comparison to other units and wouldn't be mechanically ideal for direct-head-to-head dog fighting or any sort of medium or heavy combat engagements, in a pinch they could serve as a modest light fighting unit against light enemy Neruoi air unit's and against some specific types of easy to defeat medium class air Neruoi though when it comes to medium classes extreme caution should be used while using such a unit: and against large and larger Neruoi air units: observing, reporting and retreating is often the better, safer option. These strikers were also known to be used as training aircraft for Witch Flight Students, Witch Recruits and Trainee Witches.

Some strikers that served as Trainer Strikers like the Yokosuka K5Y and Ki-9 Spruce (also known as the "Red Dragonfly") were what was known as Two-Pilot Strikers or alternatively Tandem Strikers, to help in the training of witches in Arial and Piloting Maneuvers and flight of Mechanized Air Infantry Strikers. These strikers were often used in Witch Flight Schools to train the recruits and often had an experienced Mechanized Air Infantry flight instructor behind the trainee witch as a co-pilot to help train and guide the flight student from behind. The instructor and the flight student are secured together using both a large, thick leather belt-like harness around the waist of the co-pilot instructor and that of the trainee pilot, in addition to the Witch Flight Instructor warping their arms over the trainee witches shoulders and the instructors hands would rest over the witches chest to ensure that instructor and trainer are secured in flight and so that the instructor can best help guide and instruct the trainee in flight.

Ether jet strikers are the next generation of aerial striker technology developed during the 1940's. Examples would include the Meteor, the Me262, the P-59 Airacomet, the P-80 Shooting Star, and the Kikka. Witches that pilot these strikers are known as Jet-Powered Mechanized Air Infantry. The jet striker was a new piece of striker technology first developed by researchers in Karlsland, wither or not Brittania, Liberion and Fuso had their own, smaller, limited, underfunded programs into ether jet research wither by the start of or half way through the Second Neuroi war is up to speculation and interpretation. Ether jet based strikers are faster than any prop-driven striker unit, very maneuverable, have a higher operational combat ceiling and due to the magical output have and the possibility for allowing for greater carrying capacity. However, only witches with strong magical capabilities as well as support from their familiar can safely use them, since witches that aren't compatible with the striker would be unable to use the ether jet striker either effectively or safely, if even at all. Because the ether jet engine is as of now unrefined and using the current version of the Miyafuji theory that likely not account for the nature of a magical jet engine, the use of an ether jet striker like the Me262 would quickly drain a witch of her magical reserves much faster than a normal striker unit would, which would leave the witch vulnerable to blacking out and either crashing or leave a still flying, out of control unit draining her stamina and magic completely to the point of causing serious injury and even death. Unless the witch is of exceptional magical power and potential or until ether jet technology is refined then the unit is limited to testing, experimenting and short combat trials; at this point of the Second Neuroi War it's extremely rare to being unheard of to see an individual witch fielding the ether jet striker in active service, much less a Joint Fighter Wing being equipped with them.

After some study and testing the energy consumption of the first prototype Me262's HeS-011 Jet striker engine was found to be uncontrolled after tests were run by the Ursula with help from the 501st and with Gertrude Barkhorn acting as the Me262's pilot. A week after July in 1945 the Jet striker, to compensate for this problem the Me-262 was modified by implementing a two stage fuel injector and a Modified slot on Juma-004-D engine as well as increasing the output power of the magic engine, as well as adding a speed adjuster so that the unit wont over-consume magical power. Because magical power was increased; stable flight can be achieved at more than 800km/h even when using the 50mm cannon. Tests of this newly calibrated prototype were conducted during sometime close to or during mid August of 1945.

The standard armament of this newer Me262 prototype is the Mauser MK-214 50mm cannon, an improvement over the BK-5k; the speed and penetration power has been greatly enhanced. The ammunition cartridges were supplied to the weapon via a belt inside a semi-circular magazine, from the left of the weapon. The cartridge was released by the ejector, which opened a wedge catch. This catch locked into place whilst the loading platform ran back into its resting position, ready to load the next shell. At this point, the firing sequence for the first shell could take place. Two electrical contacts closed in preparation for shell ejection, and these were activated by the interlocking of the wedge, and also by the loading platform being in its stationary default position. These switches operated the electric ignition of the cartridge, which in turn fired the weapon. At this stage, the ejector opened, and moved the wedge catch, allowing the ejection of the used cartridge. The 2400kg recoil of the weapon was alleviated by a hydraulic damper. The renewed introduction of the loading procedure took place pneumatically. The weapon is occasionally referred to as "the phone pole" due to its enormous size. Due to its power the MK-214 can completely decimate and blow apart medium type areal Neruoi with little to no effort. However, due to its large power, it's difficult to control the recoil of the weapon while firing; even for a witch with strength augmentation abilities like Gertrud.

However, safety parameters had to be implemented for optimal, safe operation of the current iteration of the ether jet striker during both testing and live combat. Before reaching optimal flight capable speeds, adjustment of the slot is discouraged: the slot must not be adjusted prior to reaching flight capable speeds. Also due to the possibility of the engine stalling, sudden and rapid acceleration or deceleration is also discouraged. If pushed outside of and beyond the required safe operations for piloting the Me262 the ether jet can become difficult to respond or become unresponsive to a witches controls and suddenly adjusting the slot would see the high likelihood of leading to incomplete combustion of the ether jets engines and resulting in a stall. However, the previous speeds of the first Me262 prototype are are still obtainable with the this newer iteration even with the safety measures and new piloting protocols in place and also will not drain a witches stamina at alarming rates like it did before; a witches stamina now seems to drain at similar, if perhaps slightly faster, but still otherwise marginable, negligible rates as reciprocating strikers. It is noted that now due to this units new safer measures and operations protocols the Me262 witch pilot must conduct more micromanagement of the jet striker and it's armament in order to operate the striker safely, much less effectively; compared to that of other air infantry strikers.

Combustion Engine Strikers and Jet Engine Strikers are different: the jet promotes changes from each individual witch as it reaches the enemy at high speeds and utilizes large firepower to destroy enemies. Meaning that depending on skills, abilities, capability and magical potential of the witch piloting an Me262, each one will behave, respond and perform differently from another, similar Me262 striker.

Compared to the first prototype, due to recent modifications to allow for safer operation; the Me-262 acceleration speeds are longer due to modification to allow for adapting to different energy outputs, meaning that take off time is increased considerably compared to the first Me262 prototype. What's more, because of this the new Me262 striker takes longer to climb to higher altitudes and also has a much wider, slower, and overall poorer turning radius compared to the first prototype. While still capable of reaching high combat ceilings than other strikers, it now just takes longer to reach such altitudes. Jet strikers, however promote change from an individual witches combat style as it reaches the enemy and utilizes high firepower to engage Neruoi in combat. Jet strikers also allow Air Infantry Witches to unleash greater magical power, potential and strength abilities as jet-powered mechanized air infantry compared to standard combustion engine strikers and standard air infantry witches.

Once fully accelerated it is an exceptionally fast striker, capable of reaching fast top speeds compared to other strikers that operate under a reciprocating combustion engine and thanks to its standard issue armament, the MK-214 50mm cannon it's also very powerful. However, it was found during the testing phase that calibration of the jet striker is required to allow the jet striker to absorb recoil and thereby provide sufficient accuracy for the 50mm cannon in order to effectively and consistently hit targets in testing trials and combat situations; their fore in its current form the Me262 striker requires calibration to absorb the 50mms recoil which would be accomplished by making adjustments to its magic stabilizers and magic shock absorbers. Until such calibrations are carried out by allied R&amp;D: while powerful, the Me262's MK-214 cannon's accuracy in combat would be abysmal. If this is addressed with further testing and calibrating than the unit and it's weapon would be very useful in combat.

In the event of a stall the witch operator of an ether jet must follow a specific set of actions to perform a stall recovery maneuver: a witch must first take two full, deep, steady breaths with a wide mouth and hold their breath on the second inhalation in order to steady heartbeat, regulate breathing and allow for oxygen to be taking into a witches respiratory system to help her body regain its stamina and also to help her keep calm and focus her mind, her magical stamina, concentration and control. In other words: the witch "catches her second wind" if you will. Next in order to restart the stalled engine of the Me262 a light but firm tap must be delivered against the stalled unit as per procedure: a witch carrying the Infantry Jet Operator mid flight can provide the percussive restart for the stall recovery maneuver, as shown when Ursula assisted Erica in Operation Vicrtory Arrow while fighting against the Combat type Neruoi. Alternatively the witch piloting the jet can reasonably perform the restart themselves by taping their strikers together and applying most of the force of the tap against the stalled unit. However; not many jet-powered mechanized air infantry witches would know of this procedure and how to perform it without being given very clear, specific and concise instructions in the performing of recovery procedures from a stalled jet engine.

For the currently unmodified, second prototype jet striker, in order to increase accuracy to desired effective combat parameters, the witch must also be able to concentrate and focus her magic energy much more than normal into the 50mm autocannon more than normal compared to that of other Air Infantry witches, specifically into the barrel to help stabilize the weapon and mitigate recoil. However, it may be needed for the jet striker to rely on support of another Air Infantry witch for stabilization in order to produce the most ideal results for combat conditions until the Me262 is modified again to mitigate the issues now currently present in its second prototype stage.

Whereas Mechanized air infantry fight in the skies, Mechanized Armored Infantry witches fight upon the ground bellow. As most of the magical output for Air Infantry Striker Units is directed towards flight, they are by design possessing weaker shields, weapon stopping power and relatively short operational times comparatively speaking to Land Battle Tracked Legs; with their magic output directed towards weapons, shields and boosting a witches physical abilities, Mechanized Armored Infantry Witches (also informally known as "Tank Witches" and "Land Battle Witches" or "Land Witches") posses much greater power in these area's compared to Mechanized air infantry units. The strength of their shields, and the firepower of their main cannons, are far beyond those of air infantry witches, and their operation times are also longer. In other words, flight magic consumes an enormous amount of magic power, which is used in other ways by land combat Strike Witches. While it varies between units, the standard top speed of Mechanized Armored Infantry Strikers in the field is around 30 km/h. For traveling long distances, trains and railroads are normally used.

There are two modes of operation for Tracked Combat Legs: bipedal and tracked modes. Regularly, Witches walk with the "feet" part of the Striker, including when engaging in combat. However, when in need of faster speed, they can also utilize the tracks equipped on the Striker Units to attain said maximum speed. These tracks can be exposed by retracting the "feet" part of the Striker Units, and engaging this tracked mode for movement is referred to as "Track Dashing". Track dashing allows for greater movement speed and agility in combat, although it can draw on a bit of magical output to utilize.

In the early days of development, Tracked combat Legs were mostly used for hauling large caliber cannons and anti-tank guns, for personal protection the witches just carried regular infantry small arms. Later when it was possible to release more physical strength, it became popular to equip Mechanized Armored Infantry Witches with their own main armament. Such armaments are called "Witch Combat Guns": Specialized cannon-like weapons firing a specially designed, large caliber shell that could be used to damage and destroy Neuroi. Witch Combat Gun's utilize what is known as "Magic Mass" (abbreviated as "mm") and is an abstract unit of measurement used to indicate the amount of magical energy that is being channeled into the round inside the Witch Combat Gun and subsequently outputted upon firing the weapon. For example a 37mm Witch Combat Gun means that the witch combat gun in question is able to output 37 units of magic mass per round. 75mm means that the weapon in question can output a solid 75 units of magic mass, which is quite powerful. Some Strikers like the Britannian Firefly and the Liberion "Easy 8" are fielded with weapons called "Anti-Neuroi Rifles" and other Strikers are issued "Anti-Neuroi guns", and at times the largest of witch combat guns usually at 75mm or higher are referred to as "Witch Combat Cannons" all of which are witch combat weapons that fufill specific perimeters and roles in combat. Large caliber Witch combat guns like the 75mm and higher have large recoil and not only would such large and heavy hitting weapons usually require two hands to use but also must be rested upon the knee of the striker while firing for stability, or on occasion be mounted on the leg of a striker unit depending on the type of striker. Depending on the specific model of striker that it accompanies, most Witch Combat guns of 35mm to 60mm outputs of medium to long barrel length can mount bayonets, though their are some exceptions. Short barreled witch combat guns are seen attached to certain strikers, usually for light tracked legs and as standard weapons for certain medium combat legs, though short barreled WCG's rarely see bayonet mountable use though it isn't something to completely rule out as a possibility. Short, Medium and Long Barrels for witch combat guns are all possible though the question of which striker would use which barrel length witch combat gun varies from striker to striker, model to model or even load out package to load out package.

Some strikers have even been modified to serve as "Gunner" strikers: basically a striker unit possessing a weapon mount to equip a heavy machinegun like the M2 Browning to provide a land battle unit with automatic suppressive fire, although it's more common to see witches using their standard issue witch combat guns. It's also conceivable that some Mechanized Armored Infantry witches may utilize "Anti-Armor" weapons like the Bazooka, Panzerfaust, Panzerchreck, PIAT and other such weapons although admittedly it's debatable wither many witches would utilize such weapons as a primary or secondary weapon. While the possibility of Mechanized Armored Infantry Snipers is possible, it's unknown as to what number Mechanized Armored Snipers are used, although their weapons would vary between standard infantry sniper rifles and Anti-Armor Rifles respectfully, sometimes even seeing the use of specially designed Anti-Neuroi Rifle's though this would likely vary from strike unit to striker unit or even nation to nation. Another possibility is of witches serving as Mechanized Armored Self-Propelled Artillery and armed with witch Combat mortars and witch combat howitzers to provide indirect fire-support for witch and mundane units; however such witches are not very common, and what witches that use Witch Combat Howitzers are very few and far between as such weapons would have the largest size, wight and recoil of any other witch combat weapon and as a result only the strongest of witches would be able to use them even with the appropriate striker modified to field such weapons.

Use of witch combat bucklers are a possibility but are likely limited to only certain kinds of strikers under the combat doctrinaires of particular nations armies and are used both as supplementary protective equipment in battle and as a potent melee weapon: the Gallian Renault R35 Medium Tracked Legs possess both the short barreled 45mm witch combat gun and witch combat buckler as paired standard issue weapons for the unit, alongside R35 armor for the witch to wear on her chest and hips, similar in nature to the Matilda II striker. Witch combat bucklers are assumed to be likely produced in ways that are at least comparable to the method's and construction techniques in which the witch combat gun is produced.

For the most part, as far all the military is concerned, Tank witches are often seen as the "unsung heroes" and "grunts" of witch kind: whereas many Mechanized Air Infantry witches are well renowned and very famous to the point of being hailed as war celebrities, if not on an ace level then simply by image and military role; Land Battle Witches meanwhile lead a less glamorous life. With the exception of perhaps the well known and well hailed Britannian Royal Army, 4th Armoured Brigade, C Squadron under the command of Major Miles in Africa (as far at least for Tank witch units are concerned), as well as witches that Operate the Tiger heavy tracked combat legs and the Patton girls of the Liberion Army's II Corps; most of the girls of the various nations Tank witches and their units get slightly less time in the spot light compared to that of Mechanized Air Infantry, and because of this most units have to contend with less enlistment, recruitment and volunteer rates as a result and many Tank witch unit commanders are desperate to try and get press coverage in order to raise the ranks of Mechanized Armored Infantry Witches in the field and to fill roles in Tank witch units. The reason for this can be found in the Propaganda film: "Flash in the Fuso Sea", which was responsible for glorifying the glorious aerial witches in the military, resulting in many young magical girls volunteering to serve primarily in mechanized air infantry. Land Battle witches therefore have to contend with lower recruitment rates in comparison. Despite not being quite as popular world wide as Air Infantry witches, Mechanized Armored Infantry witches still never the less fill a much needed role in combat and help reinforce the land units and manage to take and hold ground while fighting vigorously with valor against the toughest land based combat forms of the Neuroi admirably, and at least among quite a number of infantry units, artillery units and supply units the Land Battle Witches are seen and celebrated as the heroines of the land; more often than not the girls are greeted warmly by the men they serve alongside.

Much like Air Infantry Striker Units, Tracked Combat legs (sometimes also called Armoured Legs) are very diverse, and also posses their own unique, strengths, weaknesses, traits and quirks, as do witch combat guns being as varied and numerous as the Striker Units they come with as standard issue. While there are undoubtedly many kinds of striker units patterned after different light tanks, medium tanks, heavy tanks, self-propelled guns, and self propelled artillery that undoubtedly had their own unique traits and quirks, in this chapter we will be covering five in detail that have historical and technical information that can be found in the 5th Volume of the Witches of the Sphinx doujinshi.

To start off: the Liberion M3 Lee and M4 Shermen Land Strikers benefited from mechanical reliability, operational availability, ease of maintenance, and high production numbers. On top of that they were designed to sacrifice themselves in the event that a Neuroi's attack exceeded the defensive abilities of a witch, sparing the life of a witch that operated the unit in question. This ability of the Sherman derived strikers was referred to as the Lonsan Effect, based on the famous manufacturer of safety matches and oil lighters. It was not unheard of to see Liberion witches uniforms, due to the nature of the Lonsan Effect, burning and disintegrating and for the witches to be casually fighting half naked with their uniforms in tatters, which won the admiration of the mundane soldiers. Many nations often bought M3's and M4's from Liberion or they were given under a "lend/lease" contract for their army witches. Sherman derived strikers tend to have fall under a variety of configurations that filled different roles and performed differently from other Sherman's. It should be noted however that the witch combat guns of M4 Sherman derived strikers are not 75 magic mass witch combat guns of comparable caliber to the 75 millimeter cannon of the Actual Sherman tank; in all likely hood the M4 Sherman derived strikers would have magic mass ranges around 40mm, 45mm and the highest being 50mm. The use of the anti-Neruoi rifle used by the EZ8 derived Sherman striker would be a specially designed witch combat gun with a long barrel, a scope, specially designed gun shield and bipod for use at long range destruction of Neruoi armor unit's with the EZ8 striker unit designed and modified to operate specifically around the anti-Neuroi rifle in a capacity befitting a sniper unit and with the weapon in turn designed to fit the unit's operation roles and specifications. It's possible that the anti-Neruoi rifle, depending on the exact model, could output anywhere between 50mm, 55mm and 60mm in total, which would still be short of the tremendous power and weight of a 75mm witch combat cannon.

Meanwhile the Panzer Mark IV possessed balanced mobility, and an offensive/defensive capability. This allowed for striker unit model diversity and allowed witches to experiment with the unit in combat. This provided Karlslands Panzerfräulein with flexibility and adaptability and allowed for individual witches to exploit their magical ability's to their full potential. Although their short barrelled standard issue guns had reduced range, they had incredible penetrative power, allowing for witches fielding the Mark IV to destroy Neuroi that possessed exceptionally thick armor, and as such witches piloting such strikers were fielded as trump-cards in combat, and as a result this unit was reserved for elite land battle witches. This deficit of range in the standard witch combat gun could be fixed with a larger barred, larger caliber witch combat gun that was eventually designed and fielded, which helped provide somewhat better range and slightly better stopping power.

As an example of Mark IV's adaptability it consisted of three variants. The standard model Panzer IV's main armament consisted of the short barreled KhK37 L/24 Witch Combat Gun, which had limited range but at shorter ranges could Nerutralize Neuroi that had considerably thick armor. The second variant of the Panzer IV is the Mark IV "Special" that consists of the KhK40 L/43 and later upgraded to the improved L/48 which boasted better long range accuracy. The PzKpfw IV "Extra Special" possesses both the upgraded, long range gun as well as adding improved defenses from External armored sheets (referred to as Schürzen).

Earlier Panzer model strikers like the Panzer II and the medium tracked leg known as the Panzer III were striker unit's that would have implemented light armaments and the Panzer II in particular possessed comparably weaker shields and weapons but greater speed and mobility both on foot but most noticeably while track dashing. Weapons for a Panzer II would have been specially designed MG34's and modified for use by land battle witches on a back pack sub-armor to act as a weapon holster and gun mount with another weapon to supplement it, likely a small caliber witch combat gun or the Solothurn being the primary choice armament though others are possible depending of the operational parameters or the witches own tastes and tactical choices. The Panzer III standard issue weapon would be the 3.7cm KwK36 Witch Combat Gun, a weapon of short range and modest stopping power compared to the Panzer IV's weapon.

Land Battle Witches of Imperial Fuso were known to always face difficulty on the battlefield, what with the Type 89 I-go Tracked Legs possessing a number of problems due to poor mobility and had a propriety of breaking down frequently and possessing feeble protection, was derided and ridiculed as the "Ox Cart Rider". Land battle witch combat improved for Fuso with the advent conception of the Type 97 Chi-ha Tracked Legs. While hardly considered ideal for Medium Tracked Leg Striker Units, they did boast phenomenally greater mobility and range then the Type 89, contributing to the Imperial Army Nadeshiko witch units. As fighting continued the Type 97 magic engines were adjusted to enhance defensive capabilities of a witches shield and of the Type 87 underwent extensive modification.

The Type 97 Witch combat Gun was deigned to defeat Neuroi by means of firing high explosive shells that inflict blast damage. However, the already existing shells were replaced with new, experimental armor piercing shells once it became clear that the previous shells were ineffective against more heavily armored Neuroi units, although other types of weapons that were considered effective were also employed. The Type 97 Chi-ha was hailed as a versatile, easy to maintain unit with a long combat range that allowed land battle witches of Fuso to tailor their weapon load outs to their comfort and personal preference, although this would prove to be a logistical nightmare for the chain of command to keep Chi-ha witches ammo and maintenance parts well supplied due to a complete lack of standardization in this regard.

The Matilda II strikers of Britannia are reliable units possessing powerful defensive shields and armaments that boasted high penetration capability: making it an unparalleled witch weapon credited to saving the lives of many soldiers. Matilda's were well known for greatly amplifying shield strength of a witch. It was however a heavy unit with low mobility, and only Land Battle witches like Major Miles; who knew well the strengths and weaknesses of the Matilda II and trained rigorously with the unit could turn the "Heavy Iron Dress" into the "Corvette of the Dunes". An adopted tactic of the Matilda II equipped Land Battle Witches that proved to be quite adapt smoke screen based close quarters combat style fighting that utilized special smoke screens that drastically reduced the effectiveness of Neuroi long ranged attacks thanks to specialized shells. This tactic proved to be very effective thanks to the smoke shells and close team work and deep mutual trust between members of a witches unit. While difficult to categorize as "ideal" they were still a highly prized unit regardless, being a unit that Britannia was able to supply in bulk from the outset of the North African Campaign, although they were also seen on many other fronts, and are counted among the few tracked legs to be employed on every battlefield where land battle witches fought.

Then of course their was the famously known "undefeated striker of legend": the Mark VI Extra Heavy Tracked Fighting Legs; otherwise known as the "Tiger". A decisive weapon developed by Karlsland out of a desire to retake their homeland, the Tiger was the most powerful striker unit in existence in 1943. It's accomplishments and fame reach mythic proportions, and as a result the moral of the troops would dramatically improve; the presence of a Tiger gave even regular soldiers the confidence to feel like they could defeat Neuroi all by themselves. While the Tiger had suffered from issues related to production difficulties, strenuous maintenance demands and relatively limited range, they were outweighed by the Tigers unparalleled offensive and defensive abilities; possessing incredibly powerful weapons and magic shields. Depending on the situation and the skill of the witch riding it, the Tiger could take on hordes of Neuroi and win, making it a truly legendary land battle striker. That said production of Tigers was laborious and regular maintenance was vital to keeping them operational. In addition logistical considerations were required for their use; such as a ready supply of spare parts and other expendables, and being accompanied by a dedicated maintenance team.

That being said, an appropriately maintained Tiger boasted surprising mobility and fairly high reliability, or at least for a striker of it's type. Compared to medium, light and armor-destroyer tracked legs it would have likely have been slow and ponderous in it's movement, and the fact it's reliability would only be high when given constant and meticulous maintenance from maintenance teams but the fact that it's mobility and reliability was boasted about says something for the design of the Striker in question. A news correspondent who covered the daily operations of a Tiger unit in action wrote a children's book titled "Tigerfibel", which explained the operations of the Tiger Striker in terms that were easy to understand, eventually becoming a best seller that helped perpetuate the Tiger's legend of invincibility. Records tell of Fuso officers who were so impressed by the awesome power of the Tiger that one or two Tiger Strikers were purchased by the Imperial Fuso Army for technological experimentation purposes. While their were some accounts of Fuso witches using Tiger Strikers with Fuso ideograms, such details are sketchy regarding this.

Tiger units requires large quantities of magical energy and not all land battle witches were capable of operating them. Witches and their units often have to go through compatibility tests to ensure they were assigned a striker that best complimented the witches abilities, magical proficiency and overall performance. Their have been cases where a witch suffered mediocre performance with a standard land battle striker, while exhibiting different abilities when using a Tiger, or vise versa. Tiger equipped witches can inflict devastating damage on targets from medium to long range, but at close range the main 88mm armament of the Tiger unit was cumbersome. For this reason the tiger was armed with a coaxial MG34, but what was most effective was to conduct joint missions with the Tiger paired with regular infantry or witches in light or medium fighting tracked legs.

The Tiger tracked legs won great fame on the North African, Eastern and Western fronts, giving birth to many land battle ace witches. Their have been reports of rather peculiar field-modified Tigers achieving great success on the Gothic Line; the defense line that was part of the Romangna Campaign. The Tiger Striker Unit directed their might against the Neuroi and fought ferociously to the very end of the 2nd Neuroi war.

Heavy Tracked Combat Legs are by far the most rare Strikers to see on the field due to the insane amount of resources and funding required to manufacture such units as well as witches needing to be magically compatible to field such a unit, not to mention the logistics requires to maintain, equip, supply and field such a unit. Heavy Track Combat Legs more often then not use an actual tank cannon as their primary armament: The Tiger I of course wields the powerful 8.8 that was used on the actual tank of the same name and had become mounted upon the Tiger I Striker's massive chassis, augmenting it with magic. While it's possible that other heavy tracked legs (including that of other nations) based off of heavy armor may exist outside of the Tiger I, most of them would have likely been produced in limited numbers due to the production costs and the need to conduct field tests, as well as likely not being as famous or well known and thus would be overshadowed by Karlsland's Tiger derived Heavy Tracked Legs.

Also, to clarify: the Tiger I, as well as any other examples of Heavy Tracked Legs, while appearing to be large sized walkers or standing tanks, are neither such vehicle types. Despite their large sizes, armaments, auto loaders or even their Magic engine self destruct mechanisms; are still Striker Unit's, granted of a larger scale. Therefore Heavy Tracked Legs of the Tiger I share similar construction aspects and similar parts compositions next to any other type of tracked leg, though again, obviously taken to a much larger scale. The only exceptions being the inclusion of magic engine self destruct mechanisms to prevent the Heavy Tracked leg from falling into enemy hands or alternatively to use as a last ditch effort of exceptionally large hoards of Neruoi or a particularly stubborn Ultraheavy class, as well as the main tank cannon mounted on he striker and often accompanied by an auto-loader mounted on the chassis of the Heavy Tracked Leg.

Another striker of honorable mention is the Sturmpanzerbeine III Ausf. G (literally assault tank legs) utilized by Aurora E. Juutilainen, which comes with a powerful 75mm Witch combat Cannon as primary armament; a large, long barreled powerful weapon that often required two hands to wield and the recoil was such that it necessitated the need to brace the 75mm witch combat cannon against the knee of a witches striker to have any measure of accuracy and to compensate for the recoil. The Sturmpanzerbeine III Ausf. G likely had improved magic stabilizers and magic shock absorbers but even these likely would have been of marginal effectiveness due to the massive 75mm witch combat weapon, and the unit likely would have been deployed in defensive positions in forested areas or in urban environments to defend territory from the Neruoi and are designed for use in the direct fire role in support of infantry when attacking other infantry, armor or fortified positions. What more, due to the power of the witch combat cannon's 75mm output that they are also ideal for assault of heavily armored Neruoi units. While it's likely that tank destroyer and assault gun based tank legs could have the potential to being handy armor destroyers, it's likely that their shields would have varied strength and usually would be inconsistent in their protectiveness. Another weakness is, due to the heavy nature and high recoil of it's primary witch combat weapon use in direct combat would not be ideal since an open engagement for most witches of this striker unit would mean that their would invariably be a mobility disadvantage outside of implementing ambush tactics, maintaining defensive positions, holding territory and supporting allied advances with heavy, direct fire support. A witch operating a Sturmpanzerbeine III Ausf. G could possibly discard or forgo the 75mm witch combat cannon dealing with both the weight and mobility issues but that obviously would sacrifice it's tremendous firepower for a less powerful weapon. However, witches with strength augmentation abilities like Aurora could easily wield the 75mm witch combat cannon one handed and could use other heavy weapons should the 75mm WCC be forgone. Depended on the witch and her abilities and confidence assault tank legs could prove to be very formidable: in a few cases Aurora has used Suomi KP/-3 smg, the Kaspasos anti-tank satchel charge and even large tree trunks as weapons against Neruoi instead of the standard issue 75mm witch combat cannon but even in cases where she used the standard issue WCC it has proven to be quite devastating and formidable in her hands and thanks to her strength augmentation and the the easy handling of such a heavy weapon as a result: the Stug III striker shows it's potential as a mobile, heavy hitting unit that devastates Neruoi. But again, this is often dependent on the abilities and confidence of the witch operating the unit, of which most would not even be close to reaching the level to that of Aurora Juutilainen's own abilities and confidence.

Each Striker reflects the traits of the machine it's based off of, so be sure to do as much research as possible into the aircraft or vehicles and try and translate that into the Striker unit. Although it's been mentioned already: always be sure to do research. When it comes to Striker Units this is by far one of _the most_ _vital_ _things _you can do as a writer of Strike Witches fan fiction. Whenever a trait is found in a vehicle to make into a striker you wish to assign to a witch, be sure to translate that strength or weakness into the striker . Also of importance is be sure to try and match the striker as best as you can with the witch so the unit can play to the witches strengths while mitigating weaknesses. Or alternatively you can choose to show a witch that is equipped with a striker she might not necessarily be ideal operation in the field for one reason or another (although usually the reasons would likely be either due to poor logistics, because of being intimately familiar and comfortable with an older unit, being unfamiliar with a new unit and/or adjusting to the new units teething troubles and the witches inexperience or simply being not magically compatible with the unit in question which leads us back to the logistics scenario).

In strike witches research is the mantra of the day in all things and is the most important and vital thing a Strike Witches fan writer can do; but it is beyond essential when it comes to the design, assignment and depiction of striker units. Aviation aerobatics used by Air Infantry witches are reminiscent of actual WW2 aerial dog fighting maneuvers. Land Battle Witches similarly use tank tactics that were also used during the time period. While there would be little objection to the creation and depiction of Navel Based Striker units, they are at best Semi-Cannon in nature and would be rather uncommon, if not rare: due to the fact that for the most part Neuroi are notorious for not liking water very much. But if you do decide on the creation of witches using Sea based strikers be sure to keep in mind the guidelines above when it comes to their creation. Again: "Always do Research" is the mantra to adopt in Strike Witches stories; and it is most important of all when it comes to the witches most important equipment in the battle against the Neuroi.

Wither in the sky or across the land: the Striker is the witches most vital tool beside her weapon and her magic. They are what help give the series its identity, and are by far the most amazing, fascinating and well researched pieces of magical technology ever seen in an anime, doujin or light novel.

When the order comes to sortie, the roar of a strikers magic engine will be sure to bring excitement to the reader, and signal the start of intense battles against humanities greatest foe... whom we will look at in the next chapter...

* * *

***Edit* As an addendum to this chapter on striker units in this chapter I will provide the following, major manufacturers of Striker Unit's in the Strike Witches Series:**

***Edit V2* Additional Striker Manufactures added and amendments on some already listed manufacturers. Expect occasional edits in this area when new information and sources are brought to light.**

**Miyahishi Heavy Industries (Based off of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries)  
**

**Nagashima/**Nagas**h****ima**** Air Legs (Based off of Nakajima)**

**Yamanishi/Yamanishi Aircraft (Based off of Kawanishi)  
**

**Tsukushi Aircrafts (Based off of Kyushu Aircraft/**Kyūshū Hikōki K.K. Company Ltd**)  
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**Kawataki/Kawataki Aircraft Industries (Based off of Kawasaki/Kawasaki Aircraft)  
**

**North Liberion (Based off of North American)  
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**Curtin (Based off of Curtiss )  
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**Bella (Based off of Bell)  
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**Republican (Based off of Republic)  
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**Beerster (Based off of Brewster)  
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**Grummar (Based off of Grumman)  
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**Farotto/Fallot (Based off of Fiat)  
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**Reggione (Based off of Reggiane)  
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**Messerscharf (Based off of Messerschmitt)  
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**Flak-Wulf (Based off of the Focke-Wulf)  
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**Jungfrau (Based off of Junkers)  
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**Heinzel (Based off of Heinkel)  
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**MiG/Mir-Gosudarstvo (Mir-Gosudarstvo Design Bureau (Based off of **Mikoyan Gurevich****)

****Lavrov (Lavrov Design Bureau) (Based off of Lavochkin)****

**Ultramarine (Based off of Supermarine)  
**

**Hawk (Based off of Hawker, official sources confirm that Hawk is the in universe name of the company)**

**de Havillander (Based off of de Havilland)  
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**Arsenal / Gallian National Air Arsenal (Based off of Arsenal)  
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**IAD/Industria Aeronautică Dacia (Based off of IAR (Industria Aeronautică Română)  
**

**Note this**** is not entirely comprehensive as their are probably other manufacturers of strikers that have yet to be mentioned. However, this list will help provide an expansion into the details of striker development and striker models. ****  
**


	7. Chapter 7: The Neuroi

Chapter 7: The Neuroi.

They say that a hero is only as good as their villain: without a good, strong villain to face, the hero will be weak and ultimately that means the story will be weak. Every hero needs a respective foil to generate conflict for any given narrative. A good villain helps give good, compelling drama, challenges the hero's and strengthens the story's narrative. And there's not any antagonist quite like anything as strange, powerful and mysterious as the enemy that the witches of humanity face...

They had gone by many names over the course of human history: Disturbances, Monsters, Demons, Beasts, Dragons, monstrosities, Windingo, Kaii (meaning "strangeness" in Fuso,) Rätsel (meaning riddle in Karlslandic), mystery, Alien scum and there's likely other slurs and names for the invaders including "Supernaturals" (which given the existence of animal spirits and possibly other supernatural beings by our standards, is saying something) but during the second great war they were simply called: Neruoi. An enemy of mystery and power: no one knows really what they are, where they first came from or exactly why they came to Earth in the first place. Their society, if they have one: is unknown. Their motivations are questionable. Their exact biology is strange and not fully understood outside of what has been seen and experienced in combat, and from what little was discovered in what the failed Warlock project had uncovered as to the Neuroi's core and their powers; exact details in all things regarding the aliens who invaded the Earth and laid siege to mankind are unknown. Much like how witches are the bread and Magic and Strikers being the Jelly, Neuroi are the peanut butter of this particular anime sandwich (if you pardon the metaphor). Without Neuroi, we miss out on a key element of what makes Strike Witches the Series we all know and love. This chapter will be dedicated to the Neuroi, what little if anything is known about them and how to approach writing Neuroi in your Strike Witches Fanfic.

Before information about the Neruoi is discussed in relation withing their settings verse: we first shall look at just what the Neruoi represent as a narrative device. Narratively speaking, the Neruoi can best be described as "Force of Nature Villains". While their are several common villain types, with the Narrative Villain being a person with need's, desires and motivations of their own opposing the protagonist in the story and enhancing the narrative: the force of nature Villain often embodies a primal aspect of reality; more of a representation of something than an actual character. They allow story tellers to force the protagonist to confront an aspect of themselves or society (if not the actual sense than in a metaphorical sense) allowing the reader to either better understand that hero, or allow the reader to explore the concepts the force of nature villain represents. The force of nature isn't really a character in the conventional sense, nor are they even really a person, or so usually this is the case.

The joker from batman is a perfect example: the Joker is the embodiment of chaos, acting as the foil to batman who represents order and control, forcing batman to examine his code in the face of his extreme opposite. Usually such villains do not require rational motivations or even conventional human emotions: they are simply a force of nature and they are that aspect personified. Questions presented by such villains and what they represent are handled subtly.

So with this in mind: what do the Neruoi in the stories narrative represent?

To answer this, we must look at the Neruoi as a foil to the witches as well as what they represent in relation to humanity, the world and through what they are: what they represent; what aspect of reality are they? It's not enough or sufficient to simply say that Neruoi are simply "evil" or represent "evil", a writer must best specify in their minds what a force of nature villain represents in the story. To fully get these force of nature characters you have to know both the world of the Strike Witches and of the other characters in it to best flesh-out what your force of nature villain represents.

As being a foil to the witches, while the Witches can best be seen as humanities protectors, the embodiment's of self-sacrifice, the inherent goodness of mankind and other such positive aspects of man fighting a war for noble causes and doing good as a solider; the Neruoi would serve as a contrast to all this. The Neruoi in this context could represent destruction, the cruelty of war, the evil's committed by those in battle. They are the cold, merciless war machine cutting a swath of destruction in their wake, and they fight for their own needs, wants and desires and their own goals alone; or so this could be the case looking at them as a foil to witches.

In a much grander, general scale as a representation of some aspect of society and reality: they represent the evil's of warfare. They are representative of the cold, efficient war machine driven by expansion and technological development. They are the embodiment's of militarism and the military industrial complex, the machine men with machine minds and machine hearts, embodiment of the soldiers who sacrifice their individuality and their humanity for the sake of being the perfect weapons of war for the sake of the whole. They are conquest and conquers: and embody the taking of resources by an army by force. They embody obsession with development of military technologies, of martial powers for it's own sake and with waging warfare. Survival though war: enemy force striving to take resources to feed the hungry war machine by means of force. That only in war, and victory in war: can there be survival. Dynamic, militaristic expansionism brought to it's zenith. They are the cold killers and the stubborn soldiers that follow orders without question. They are also the unknown shadows cloaked in a fog of war. They are the OpFor; what we often fear the enemies we fight on the field of battle, or at least how we see them.

The force of nature villains are one of the easier villains to write since they are created by how they act: rather than by what they say. However, their will come cases where a writer desires to expand upon a force of nature villain and choose to give personality and humanity to such force of nature villain characters. It is a good path that could be full of potential, but it is admittedly a difficult path to properly write for a force of nature villain. While their are some ways to carry this out, the best way to do this successfully is in the context of a Force of Nature Villain wrestling with the fact that they are a force of nature and by definition they cannot deviate from their single, focused world view: the X-11 witch class Neruoi are the best such examples of a force of nature wrestling with the fact they are a force of nature. The X-11 and neuroi girl type platforms likely represents the moment of self-awareness, clarity and empathy of a solider held in the yoke of the militarized, cold soldiers; the last vestige of humanity and conscious in an army of killers. They embody individuality being forced to conform. They embody the one's who question where others do not. Those who may see the horrors and atrocities they and their comrades are committing and are spurned by such deeds. They are are the slivers of light in an relentless enemy army that my be snuffed out not only by their opponents they are forced to fight but perhaps even by their own: seen as traitors to suppress, root out and destroy. It could also be seen as perhaps even and attempt of an impersonal, autonomous soldier conditioned and bred for war and unquestioning loyalty and dedication and stubborn passion to duty, sacrifice and martial perfection trying to regain, recapture and reclaim their individuality and their humanity and to be more than a cog in the machine; but a person. Witch type and Neruoi girl type Neruoi are highly atypical in both their design and behavior... perhaps such Neruoi are trying to become more human? Wither the goal is altruistic in nature or malevolent is anyone's guess. What would become of an X-11, a force of nature villain who themselves struggle with their very nature, is truly an interesting question to explore, should one choose to explore it, but it of course holds challenges in being able to best write such a journey in written word. What fate would these such forces of nature who wrestle with that very nature ultimately face in the end? Will they manage the impossible and break free of the fact they are a force of nature and more than a force of nature, but a person, perhaps even hero? Will they remain that force of nature and continue fighting as a cog of that force of expansionism like their own twisted, stubborn kind? Or perhaps, they can walk upon the line, still wrestling with their very nature but having the agency and will to choose for whom they shall serve as master or comrade; who shall gain and benefit from a force of nature of metal shell, laser and core?

The Force of nature is a character type that delves into aspects of reality by embodying the essence of such things, that is what we face in written works and other entertainment mediums that feature such characters. Having now finished looking at what the Neruoi represent as literary devices, we shall now look at the Neuroi within the context of the world of Strike Witches.

All throughout history mankind had always contend with the threat of what people had come to eventually call: the Neuroi. In times long past Neuroi took the forms of monsters, demons and strange creatures. Whenever a recorded "disturbance" appears in history death and destruction was wrought; many historians have come to believe that these "disturbances" are in fact Neuroi incursions and activity. By the time of the 20th century the Neuroi have begun to take less organic forms and started to adopt more machine-like forms for combat. Of what little is known of them it is clear to humanity is that the Neuroi's main trait is that they are adaptable: Neuroi come in many forms: each one more strange, then the last. Some of which becoming more insidious or more powerful than previous types before them. The Neuroi of old were often captured and sealed away in pocket dimensions using specially crafted magical spells to do the job, aside from being slayed outright, but by the turn of the 17th century it seems that people of the steam and modern age decided it more practical, expedient and safer to simply destroy the Neuroi.

Neuroi are a seemingly belligerent alien race that often appears, they literally consume swaths of the earth to gain their power and increase their numbers; Europe and Africa being the most affected continents, as well as transforming the Earth through both consumption and due to the nature of the poisonous Miasma that a number of Neuroi spread to hold and control the land and maintain a strong hold on their territory. Since they derive much of their energy from consuming land, they cannot travel over large bodies of water, or at least for extended lengths of time. As of yet there have been no recorded instances of sea fairing Neuroi, wither out of a simple biological need to remain on or near dry land or if they have some sort of ingrained aversion in their psychology to large bodies of water is up for debate.

Physically, while their overall shapes, silhouettes and forms may vary to multiple degrees and in ways that are numerous if not also incomprehensible and intimidating: they oft maintain a very reminiscent and clearly identifiable and iconic appearance: a black shelled entity, commonly with hexagonal patterns but sometimes they are pattern-less and smooth, with the varied amount of either occasional or multiple red red hexagons or other shaped ports: the point of which a Neruoi fires lasers from, known as "ports", though for other Neruoi such glowing red points may indicate a sort of threatening and alien visage to in someway sense or view their surroundings though if this is the case and the manner of which they view the world is the question. The hexigonial patterns of some neuroi occasionally pulsate between a white and red glow with white easing into blue and blue easing back into white in a rolling wave like pulse of light. Depending on the type of Neruoi, upon death most such Neruoi burst into a mass of white shards, others simply dull and fall silent as a large, empty, dead husk. The bodies of X-11 class Neruoi meanwhile seem to react in death the same as a human body, with laser blasts from other Neruoi disintegrating their bodies quickly yet steadily. The Neuroi's black shell, from a pure symbolism and allegorical standpoint: symbolize death, pain, hatred, authority, power, functionality, militarism, suffering and logic. The red of their ports and visage: representing rage, anger, courage, passion, sacrifice, aggression, heat, war and danger.

The first known contact between humans and Neuroi are purported to have occurred when ancient Egypt was at the height of its glory. It is unknown what preceded this, but humans were able to seal a nest of Neuroi beneath a city. They struck the name of the city from history, as even knowing of the seal would cause it to break. When these Neuroi were inadvertently released during the Second Neuroi War, their models were revealed to be identical to the models of Neuroi already fighting in the area. The reason for this fact is unknown, but it possibly implies that the Neuroi didn't develop technologically until the Second Neuroi War forced them to do so. It could also imply that Neuroi may possess some form of hive mind in order to communicate and share information with one another, and it's also possible that the Neuroi in question could have the ability to "bond" or "link" with one another though this may be mere conjecture.

The multitude of Neuroi physical forms are often identified as "platforms" or "Classes". For some Neuroi classes they are given Latin sounding names of origin like: Diomedia (a type of large, powerful and dangerous gunship class Neuroi), Laro's (small craft that seem eerily reminiscent to Boeing P-26 Peashooter aircraft that excel at hand to hand dog fighting but have poor spatial awareness and rather weak armor) and Laro's-kai (a physically altered variant of Laro's who have better spatial awareness but only seem to engage at long ranges, and possess denser armor that only very large calibre weapons like auto cannons, AT weapons or magically enhanced blades can penetrate) or names based on the shapes, actions, attributes or nature such as the Flying Goblets (small aerial Neuroi that seems akin to a 1920 scifi space craft with two undermounted machinguns that shoot bullets), Ziggurats (giant moving castle like fortresses coated in massive AA guns and cannons) and Turtle class (named for being a long bodied, four legged tank/walker Neuroi with a long cannon mounted underneath their bodies, looking like a tank that was flipped upside down and given legs to walk upon).

Even Infantry class Neuroi have been observed in the field (some have been described as having the torso of a human and the lower body of a spider, with a laser weapon on one arm and a blade on the other, others as a type of seven foot tall, ponderous machine like biped, , with as well as a few others of varying shapes and sizes, others still are seen as a vaguely human shaped biped with flat, triangle heads with angular bodies and menacing machine like forms reminiscent of a humanoid aircraft,and iterations with large bulky limbs and laser like claws, some rare Neruoi have been seen adopting the forms of young human girls with witch like familiar ears and tail while on foot). Most highly common classes are given such names. Unique Neuroi classes, however, receive an alpha numeric designation of "X" followed by a number, likely indicating the order of witch such Neuroi of their type are encountered by the 1940's. Such as the X-11 Witch class Neuroi being one such example. And surprisingly witch-like Neuroi are very anatomically correct to the witches they mimic. Others still receive the name of whatever form they seem to visibly take.

The Neuroi show great variety in their designs, and their models have evolved as the war has progressed. Their designs have typically progressed from small models that are employed en mass to fewer, larger models. With the exception of drones, all models of Neuroi in use by 1938 to 1945 have a single, critical weakpoint: their core, a red polyhedron whose size varies with the size of the Neuroi. The core could be argued to be the equivalent of a Neuroi's heart and brain. If the core is destroyed, the entire Neuroi will be destroyed, along with any drones it has deployed and any other Neuroi under its control that have been linked to each other. The core is typically buried within the center of the Neuroi, although exceptions exist (such as one Neuroi which kept its core in a distant bug-like Neuroi). Neuroi surround their core with black armor that shows a hexagonal pattern. Certain patches of this armor are colored red, which signifies the location of the Neuroi's energy weapons. While it's likely that Neruoi of historical antiquity may have also had cores, depending on the Neruoi, it's possible that such knowledge may have been lost or forgotten over the passage of time, or alternatively, and much more likely; humans killed Neruoi without out realizing that they destroyed the cores they held in their shells.

The Neuroi's armor varies from being somewhat durable to extremely durable and dense; very large sized Neuroi and larger can take incredible amounts of damage, although some smaller form Neuroi like the Laro's-Kai may possess incredibly dense armor for their small size compared to larger classes of Neuroi: enough that even magically enhanced machineguns may have difficulty trying to chip through to the core, regenerate damage quickly. The armored shell of the alien opponents of mankind is known for it's regeneration properties. Many Neruoi have decent regeneration times, some can regenerate at exceptionally fast rates: far too fast for conventional arms in the hands of conventional soldiers to punch though, save perhaps for large quantities of both weapons and munitions, use of large caliber weaponry, or some combination thereof, or at least baring facing rather soft shelled targets, though such Neruoi by the Second Neruoi War are relatively few. For the Neuroi variety and creativity is the key word of the day. Those who adapt: survive. Those who cannot: die. In both nature and warfare this is a cardinal rule: and it appears it's one the Neuroi follow with passion.

The exact nature of what a drone is and how they function and work is admittedly vague. Drones are Neuroi deployed in the defense of a larger Neuroi. Drones do not have cores of their own and cannot regenerate themselves. It is unknown whether destroyed drones can be regenerated by their parent Neuroi, but this has not been seen in a drone is it's own separate entity and being of some kind or if it's in fact a mere extension of the parent neuroi is unknown.

The Neuroi are a race of all shapes and sizes and run the gaunt of types, iterations and forms. One Neuroi was patterned after the Sphinx from ancient legend. Going on this information Neuroi could have also taken the form of different kinds of mythical creatures of myth and legend: the Sphinx just being a very well known case. It's likely that the Sphinx and Neuroi based off other creatures of myth from real life may be responsible for spawning much of the epic tails of myth and legend in the World of the Strike Witches verse.

The basis and source of a Neuroi's laser powers is a question shrouded in mystery, but what can be known for certain is that each and every Neuroi platform possesses its own unique abilities, weapons and disposition in combat. The way a Neuroi's weapons act in combat varies, as well as the types of beams they use. Some classes of Neuroi don't even use lasers: some Neuroi like the Flying Goblets can shoot Neuroi based bullets or Neuroi like the Kefalas class Neuroi drop Neuroi bombs. Other Neruoi act as missile and rocket projectiles and act as either a boom-and-zoom, shock and awe terror weapon and high speed attack unit or perhaps depending on the class as a suicide unit to inflict massive damage to allied lines and bases of operation. On top of a Neuroi's means of attack, there are also Neuroi who can transform to various degrees and some that can produce "Chaff" which is used to jam and disrupt conventional and magical radar, and can jam radio communications. The Sphinx could freeze people and witches in their tracks, rendering them immobile when it asks them a question; if they are unable to answer it leaves them vulnerable to be killed by the Sphinx. It's possible that more animalistic, beast and daemon like Neuroi of old used their powers as well as their maws, claws, girth and weight to fight, though wither such some members of such Neuroi are still around in an age of mechanized warfare, while certainty possible, are likely used in small numbers and utilized in specific tactical roles. The powers of the Neuroi can bend, break, and can even outright mock the very laws of physics at times: how far a Nueroi's powers and abilities can go is up to the author to decide.

The Neuroi are well known not only for their power and lasers but are known to utilize the use of deadly black clouds of Miasma at the behest of certain Neuroi platforms to hold and maintain control of the land. It's not known what Miasma consists of, what is known is that it is deadly to mundane humans (with children being highly vulnerable and susceptible to adverse effects of miasma exposure) with witches being the only ones capable of braving Neuroi Miasma without being affected; thanks to their magic.

As mysterious, enigmatic and nebulous as Miasma is I will attempt to try and analiyse logiclly what in our real worlds history what "Miasma" was and try and compare/contrast and filter the historical definition though the setting of Strike Witches used by the Neruoi and see if their is any remote, possible correlations.

To do this one has to consider the conventional, historical definition of "Miasma": The miasma theory (also called the miasmatic theory) held that diseases such as cholera, chlamydia or the Black Death were caused by a miasma (Μίασμα, ancient Greek: "pollution"), a noxious form of "bad air", also known as "night air". The theory held that the origin of epidemics were due to a miasma, emanating from rotting organic matter. Though miasma theory is typically associated with the spread of disease, some academics in the early nineteenth century suggested that the theory extended to other conditions as well, e.g. one could become obese by inhaling the odor of food. The miasma theory was accepted from ancient times in Europe, India, and China. The theory was eventually given up by scientists and physicians after 1880. They instead accepted the germ theory of disease: specific germs, not miasma, caused specific diseases. However, the belief that it was the highest urban priority to clean up waste and get rid of odor remained a strong belief in the popular culture.

Miasma was considered to be a poisonous vapor or mist filled with particles from decomposed matter (miasmata) that caused illnesses. The miasmatic position was that diseases were the product of environmental factors such as contaminated water, foul air, and poor hygienic conditions. Such infection was not passed between individuals but would affect individuals within the locale that gave rise to such vapors. It was identifiable by its foul smell. It was also initially believed that miasmas were propagated through worms from ulcers within those affected by a plague.

In the 1850s, miasma was used to explain the spread of cholera in London and in Paris, partly justifying Haussmann's latter renovation of the French capital. The disease was said to be preventable by cleansing and scouring of the body and items. Dr. William Farr, the assistant commissioner for the 1851 London census, was an important supporter of the miasma theory. He believed that cholera was transmitted by air, and that there was a deadly concentration of miasmata near the River Thames' banks. Such a belief was in part accepted because of the general lack of air quality in urbanized e wide acceptance of miasma theory during the cholera outbreaks overshadowed the partially correct theory brought forth by John Snow that cholera was spread through water. This slowed the response to the major outbreaks in the Soho district of London and other areas. The Crimean War nurse Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) was a proponent of the theory and worked to make hospitals sanitary and fresh-smelling. It was stated in 'Notes on Nursing for the Labouring Classes' (1860) that Nightingale would "keep the air [the patient] breathes as pure as the external air.

Fear of miasma registered in many early nineteenth century warnings concerning what was termed "unhealthy fog". The presence of fog strongly indicated the presence of miasma. The miasmas behaved like smoke or mist, blown with air currents, wafted by winds. It did not simply travel on air, it changed the air through which it propagated. The atmosphere was infected by miasma, as diseased people were. Many believed miasma was magical, and was able to change the properties of the air and atmosphere completely.

In China, miasma (Chinese: 瘴氣; pinyin: Zhàngqì; alternate names 瘴毒, 瘴癘) is an old concept of illness, used extensively by ancient Chinese local chronicles and works of literature. Miasma has different names in Chinese culture. Most of the explanations of miasma refer to it as a kind of sickness, or poison ancient Chinese thought that miasma was related to the environment of parts of Southern China. The miasma was thought to be caused by the heat, moisture and the dead air in the Southern Chinese mountains. They thought that insects' waste polluted the air, the fog, water, and the virgin forest harboring a great environment for miasma to occur.

In the descriptions of ancient travelers, soldiers, or local officials (most of them are men of letters) of the phenomenon of miasma, fog, haze, dust, gas, or poison geological gassing were always mentioned. The miasma caused a lot of diseases such as the cold, influenza, heat strokes, malaria, or dysentery. In the medical history of China, malaria had been referred to by different names in different dynasty periods. Poisoning, psittacosis, and acclimatized were also called miasma in ancient China because they did not accurately understand the cause of the disease. In Sui dynasty, doctor Tsao Yuan-fung mentioned miasma in his book "On Pathogen and Syndromes (諸病源候論)". He thought that miasma in Southern China is similar with typhoid fever in Northern China. However, in his opinion, miasma is different from malaria and dysentery. In his book, he discussed dysentery in another chapter, and malaria in a single chapter. And he also found that miasma caused different diseases, so he suggested that one should find apt and specific ways to resolve problems.

The knowing of the concept of miasma can be separated into several steps. First, before Western Jin Dynasty, the concept of miasma was gradually forming; at least, in Eastern Han Dynasty, there was no character of miasma. In Eastern Jin, large amounts of northern people moved toward south, miasma was recognized then in the group of men of letters or nobility. After Sui and Tang Dynasty, scholars-bureaucrats traveled and were sent to be the local officials recorded and investigated the miasma. As a result, the government became concerned about the severe cases and the causes of miasma by sending doctors to the area of epidemic to research the disease and heal the patients. In Ming and Qing Dynasties, the edition of the local chronicles record the different miasma in different places. However, Southern China was highly developed in Ming and Qing Dynasties. The environment changed rapidly, and after the 19th century, western science and medical knowledge were introduced into China, and people knew how to distinguish and deal with the disease. The concept of miasma therefore faded out.

Now with such real world concepts in mind, how would such a defunct in real life, Miasma relate to the Neruoi Miasma of Strike Witches. While the nature and sources of the Miasma cloud made by Neruoi is obviously different and is a very real threat instead of the scientific quackery associated with our historical concepts and definition of Miasma: it stands to reason that given its historical concepts, precepts and context and filtering it though a Strike Witches lense: it seems that Neruoi Miasma is in fact some sort of pollution byproduct that is either a side effect of Neruoi processing or perhaps as a simple exhaust that just so happens to incidentally provide an extra means of ensuring defense of territory... or in addition it could also serve to aid the neuroi's regular functions and maintenance or alternatively is a developed means of "inherent natural biology" from at the least most kinds of Neuroi that helps ensure the aforementioned maintenance and rejuvenation of a neuroi's abilities' physical make up and even powers.

Due to a small excerpt of information from the manga 1937 Fuso Sea incident it appears that the true use of Miasma, it's importance to the neuroi and what it's used for may be at least hinted at: while the neuroi still are established as "metal eating monstrosities" it seems that metals aren't the only thing the Neuroi require in regularity... perhaps Miasma also serves some means of sustenance or at least helps to ensure that a Neuroi is either able to maintain itself and its physical shell respectively or may help regenerate a neuroi's energy, abilities, ect. its uncertain but it seems Miasma may play some other enigmatic component and importance to the neuroi... given that in the Fuso Sea incident it seems to be alluded in one particular passage in the manga that Neruoi require to be within close proximity to Miasma and seem to have a limit as to how far they can operate outside the Miasma before they have to return to it before their time runs out. This seems to indicate some sort of restorative and energizing aspect of Miasma or alternatively an maintenance, refurbishing and recharging aspect of the Miasma. What exactly this process entails or what happens if a Neruoi's time outside the Miasma reaches it's limit are not known but I have a theory.

It's likely regular exposure to Miasma helps Neruoi recharge, and it is likely a byproduct of Neruoi gathering and processing and assimilating resources to use for their own gains. The Miasma may help ensure the integrity of their armored shells, and may alternatively be a pollution byproduct that they feed on besides feeding on various metal elements and compounds to ensure that they are able to function properly and nominal strength. It's possible that being cut off from Miasma will eventually weaken the neuroi and their physical shells and make it difficult for them to use their powers and regenerate. If they still are without Miasma exposure than it's possible that their shell may weaken enough to just fall apart and leave only a weakened and vulnerable core. Or alternatively it's possible it may mean that a Neruoi may weaken and tire and become forced to take measures to hide itself and enter some form of hibernation state though admittibly their is little evidence to suggest what exactly the actual effects of a Neruoi separation from Miasma over long time periods would actually be.

Admittedly a lot of this information and theory into Neruoi Miasma is admittedly mere conjuncture and given some of the other source material is not very clear substantiated, proven or even alluded to outside of it's role in denying humanity the ability to easily take Neruoi held territory so the truth of what Miasma truly is or is intended to do for the Neruoi is in all honesty as much of an enigma as the Neruoi themselves. It's unknown for certain if miasma could hold other uses at the ports of the Neuroi outside of a means of holding territory and controlling the battlefield for that reason so artistic licence may have to be a necessity at play until cannon source material on Miasma surface with greater detail. Neuroi can also assimilate human technology: the Akagi and the Warlock Unit 0 being a pair of prime examples of this; making human vehicles into Neuroi themselves, with perhaps a varied, indeterminate amount of time.

However what all the aforementioned talking points about Miasma and the Neruoi's powers seem to indicate is that it also means that Neruoi, their nature, their "laser powers" and their Miasma, while not necessarily "Magical or magic" are at the least relying off of some sort of supernatural power other than magic. Basically Miasma is a type of "gas" that is beneficial to the Neruoi, the fact that Neruoi regularly need to be exposed to it and need to return to it, but also the fact that Miasma is poison to everything else including normal humans and it would seem to stand that Miasma, the Neuroi's powers and even the Neruoi themselves are supernatural in nature and yet not magic. In addition, Miasma is deadly to all humans save for witches who's magical energies and fields around their bodies protect them from the effects of Miasma poisoning. Miasma has also gone by the name of "bad air"... a nod to it's inspiration from our worlds archaic and long defunct Miasma theory. Miasma is a highly deadly gas that is able to cause mortality rates in human beings exposed to it; children especially are the most vulnerable and susceptible to Miasma Poisoning and thus they are the easiest harmed by Miasma if exposed to it. Exact symptoms of Miasma exposure is unknown and not shown,

Although the exact origins of the Neuroi are unknown, they are said to be born from "Flowers", spread by means of either massive flower-like structures that that create large beds of small Neruoi flowers (and the following is just a theory so be sure to take it with a grain of salt) through unknown means of biology may spread a type of spore. Another method that Neuroi create more of themselves is by using Breeder-class Neuroi that help spread small spores to create beds: a large, rectangle shaped Neuroi on gangling legs (known as a "Lunch-box" class) is one such type of breeder class.

From what we had seen though Mio's eyes of a Neuroified Akagi/Warlock combo is that the Neuroi possess a very alien biology consisting of a highly complex "nervous-system", it's possible this system is a means of distributing a Neuroi's energy's through its shell and allowing it to feel and sense changes in its surroundings.

There have been many questions regarding just "what" a Neuroi is, and wither or not they are intelligent or sentient. While there have been many hypothesise and theories, there are few actually sources that can give us any idea as to confirming any of these questions. We will look at some of these theories, questions and compare them to all forms of cannon source material and figure out just what the Neuroi are. That means we will be looking at the Anime Series, the Movie, all Doujinshi set in Africa, the Misfits Light novels and the witches of Cappuzo light novels. While many can agree that the Neuroi are obviously and clearly alien; few can agree just where on the list the Neuroi fall under. Some have put forth the theories of the Neuroi being mindless, metallic automatons and non-sentient, abstract constructs of energy and steel. Others suggest they are semi-sentient creatures akin to a swarm of rats or locusts.

I purport that such theory's undersell the Neuroi considerably... I, as do quite a handful of the fandom, think there is more to the Neuroi than that...

While some may be quick to write off the Neuroi as either mindless and emotionless machines or semi-sentient interstellar pests, going on the fact that Neuroi are capable of taking a multitude of different forms that seem to fill particular roles and specific tasks, the fact they can create massive forces in key regions of the world, and the fact they have managed to take and hold Ostmark to use as a buffer zone to deploy forces into surrounding nations in Europe seem to indicate that they are very intelligent and sentient beings.

In addition, due to the fact they can adopt many different forms and once had deployed units on a regular and consistent schedule but then overtime became more and more erratic in the deployment of their forces to attack indicates that Neuroi can also adapt. Another indicator of adaptation can be seen in the Laro's type Neuroi and the respective Laro's-Kai. Laro's are known for being a type that is quite common to shoot down by witches, with only the Rallos class being by far the easiest of Neuroi classes to shoot down by witches. Some mundane soldiers and pilots, if they are cautious enough, can stand a healthy chance of shooting down a Rallos class: which appears as a large fly-like creature with propellers for wings. However compared to the Laro's who has poor peripheral vision and prefers to engage in close dog fighting, as well as having only moderate to light armor , the Laro's-Kai meanwhile has better spatial awareness, prefers engaging from afar and have much, much thicker armor; thick enough that even standard infantry arms in the hands of a witch have difficulty in penetrating to the core, as shown in the Misfits light novels. This indicates that Neuroi actively adapt themselves to survive in battle.

Another element that rules out a Neuroi being mere mindless machine constructs or being equated to mere alien locusts is that Neuroi not only sense pain, but more importantly also display emotion. When fired upon by witches or large caliber mundane arms and cannons Neuroi screech and vocalize in pained tones, as shown during times that the witches engaged in mass to fight a Neuroi and inflicted heavy damage to them. They can even make sounds of anger or belt battle cry's in a tone that is reminiscent of very high or low pitched whales. When the X-11Witch form Neuroi in the first episode of the second season being fired upon by its kin the X-11 was clearly writhing in pain as it was being killed. As for displays of emotion in the movie Shirley taunted a Neruoi into chasing her, in which the Neuroi promptly gave chase in a way that seemed to indicate anger. What's more in Witch of Cappuzo there was an example of a Neuroi Turtle and a few smaller class flying Neuroi which survived a massive battle with two Kalrsland tank witches that were intimidated and retreated in clear, visible fear before one of the witches in question after she used her magical ability to frighten them into a retreat.

Another indicator of not only intelligence but also sentience is that they can communicate. Aside from their obvious whale-like cries, Neuroi can sing via radio waves (wither they can see via radio waves or some form of radar or even some other means is unknown but possible, that will be up to the individual writer) as seen in the first season when a Neuroi that Sanya made contact with was singing over the radio channels much like she was and for speaking is apparently as evidenced by the Sphinx there are Neuroi that can communicate via telepathy (wither all Neuroi can use telepathy or not is a subject up to debate and interpretation) in the final book of Witches of the Sphinx.

What's more, Neuroi also possess a sort of "Hive-Mind" as evidenced when Yoshika made contact with the X-11 Witch Neuroi in the first season, being shown images and "recorded- memories" of the Neuroi and its kin in question, meaning that the Neuroi can share past experiences with each other and even show other beings a Neuroi's memories, experiences and any events that they had developed, partook in have been shown and experienced at any given time.

While it's likely that the Neuroi may be "born" and exist as individuals, it's thanks to this intricate, vast hive mind that allows them to coordinate and work in sync and in unison. An example of this hive mind can be found in the tenth episode of the first season when Yoshika enters the Neuroi hive and is shown by the X-11 Neuroi girl everything the Neruoi had seen. And judging how if one particular hive's core is destroyed and the fact any accompanying Neuroi bound to the hive are destroyed, it means that Neruoi can also link and meld themselves to the leaders of their hive, possibly to better coordinate between Hive Core and other units, although that could put the linked Neuroi in danger of dying along with their hive leader's core if a Neruoi opts to do this (although this is mostly just conjecture), as seen in the finals of the first and second season respectively.

So what exactly does this mean?

All this information indicates that the Neuroi are in fact living, sentient beings with emotion and are capable of communication. However, it begs again the question of wither they are merely very bizarre aliens... or perhaps something more? Some have put forth the theory that Neuroi are Eldritch Abominations: outer gods. A race of Lovecraftian Horrors. More of a force of the universe if anything. Is this really true? Maybe, maybe not. Wither the Neuroi are merely bizarre aliens with a hard to grasp biology or if they are a monstrous army of outer gods or perhaps even something else entirely is up to the discretion of the fanfic writer. What we do know is that they are operating on rules of the universe that we have no understanding of... if they are even following any to begin with.

However specifically in regards to classifying what sort of aliens the Neruoi are: the best description of them would be that of type of hybrid of Eusocial Energy-Nanomorph beings, given their nature and their apparent biology. That being said despite this apparent biology, it's important to reiterate that the Neruoi seem to be much more than mere machines. Or rather they seem to hold some aspects of being Nanomorph beings combined with some aspects of being also some kind of supernatural beings or entities... or in terms of tropes; they are a combination of the alien species tropes of "mechanical beings" (A race of robots or robot-like creatures that are also considered a honest-to-goodness species of living things and sapient creatures in their own right). They're just like your everyday living organisms, except they happen to have metal for skin) and "starfish aliens" (alien beings that are extreme and radically non-human in biology and at times incomprehensible in terms of speech, logic, culture, belief system and even reproduction as well as vastly different motor, sensory, or communication abilities, ect). They are still despite this enigmatic and seemingly nanomorph nature that they are still a people. The question of wither they are originated from is the question? Are they an artificially created race that either are under the rule of some other alien species, or have they broken free of the control of their supposed creators and en-slavers to eck out an existence and of their own by their own will, or alternatively were they are race abandoned for some reason by such alleged creators to roam around the universe to carry out a purpose or to find meaning and purpose themselves... or did they exist, grow and evolve on some strange, alien and utterly bizarre world of their own and developed as a species of their world as life grew on our world? Are they something supernatural even by the standards of the people of the Strike Witches earth, beyond the normal likes of even ethereal beings like animal spirits and Suomus sauna fairies and originating from some other dimension and realm of reality? Evidence found come strike witches source material indicate that the Neruoi may be supernatural in nature, and they have even been outright called "Supernaturals". And in any of these cases: how is it that they managed to find their way unto Earth? And Why? Why have they come, and more important of all: why do they stay, and linger?

Another trait of the Neuroi is that they seem to champion the interests of their people; with the individual being less important than the whole of their people. They are eusocial beings. And on the whole they are stubborn; most Neuroi often times attack and charge in a mad zerg rush. Others may be insidious and more tactically intelligent than others, using surprise, ambushing or employing more advanced combat techniques in the field, and on occasion some Neuroi are known to fall back, retreat or otherwise break off engagements, although this may be more dependent of the Neuroi's platform class and the role such a form plays. That being said, it's not uncommon for witches to engage a specific Neuroi not even weeks or a few days less after contact with it was broken off or lost prior.

Neuroi possess many staggering strengths: their laser powers, their Armored shells, the use of Miasma, large numbers their adaptability, the ability to regenerate damage their armored shells receive being a very potent and staggering strength in their favor, and their stubbornness . However they also possess some inherent weaknesses: they are very susceptible to the magic powers of a witch: one of the main reasons why witches are employed to begin with. Another weakness is that Neuroi are hurt by incendiary weapons and going on that could also likely be susceptible to flame based magic, flames and phosphorus. It's likely incendiaries may impede a Neuroi's regenerative abilities and likely cause a great deal of pain. Also because they utilize radio waves it's quite reasonable to venture that radio waves and radar may play some key factor for a Neuroi, which could be something that could be exploited as a possible weakness. Of course another one is that Neuroi seem to not like water, or at least at this point in time during the second Neuroi war. In addition, long ranges render most Neruoi laser weapons inaccurate and ineffective: most Neruoi often have to close the distance between themselves and their targets more often than not. Also their stubbornness could be seen as a double edged sword when it comes to facing much stronger and/or well organized witches in battle. Lastly, due to their nature as a Nanomorph machine-like race and from their observable biology: it is a possibly that the use of sonic weaponry may be of notable merit; wither it be in simply, immobilizing and hurting Neruoi, and perhaps on the size of the alien and power of the sonic weapon perhaps even kill Neuroi. Also, as it was previously noted: as great as endurance is even to that of witch, equaling and even surpassing witches in this regard... thanks to the information gleaned from the 1937 Fuso Sea incident manga: it seems that even Neruoi have a limit outside of the Miasma, and that too may be an eventual weakness, though it may become a question of how long until such a weakness can be exploited. However,as of yet their hasn't been as of yet any effective means of delivering such a system to a Neruoi target outside of experimental sonic cannon prototypes from Karlsland that are of questionable use, questionable implementation, and of equally questionable effectiveness, as well as being rather large and bulky.

The true motivations of the Neuroi is a large question that can only be speculated at. Have they come solely for resources to create more of their own kind? Are they warriors looking to fight a good fight? Are they malevolent beings who view humanity as lesser creatures to eradicate? Do they even see, recognize or even know humans are sentient? Do they view witch kind as a threat to their existence? Could they be under the command of some overloads, or is it simply they act on some ingrained, compulsive instinct? Do they see humanity as a test and a challenge for themselves, or are they testing humanity? And if so, to what ends? Are they looking for something and is humanity impeding their search of it? Do they hold a grudge of some sort against humanity? If so why are they angry with mankind? Do they simply want to make our world their own? Could it be that the reasons are as varied as the multitude of reasons a human would go to war for? Or could there be some other reason, even if it's one a human cannot even begin to comprehend? Or perhaps are their more than one reason for their presence on Earth? Or... could their true nature and motives be worse than anything humanity could ever imagine? If these are questions a writer wants to explore and answer, than that will be up to the writers prerogative.

However, if it had to be speculated, the Goals of the Neruoi could be seen as the collection of Earth's resources to create more Neruoi. Some in the fandom suggest that the Neruoi could simply be fighting a war of conquest, a contest of strength or simply be a bid for eradicating and destroying life, although wither these are truly the case remains to be seen and are mere conjuncture. The Neuroi are here for some reason, and whatever the reason they are committed to it: the fact they have been around since the height of ancient Egypt and even until 1945 indicates that whatever reason or cause the Neruoi have they intend to see it through. There may be other reasons, but resources seems to be a rather big one.

It is wondered what Neuroi eat, if they even eat at all or even if they eat in some way that we aren't familiar with. Some fans think that the Neuroi may also consume resources they harvest for "reproduction", possibly absorbing and consuming metal elements and compounds for sustenance, wither this is the case or not can only be speculated at.

Neuroi society, hierarchy and culture is also unknown. Neuroi Hive's deploy air units, Neuroi nests deploy ground units and the large, towering "flower-like" structures birth more Neuroi in mass deep in held territory but how these structures of the Neuroi are commanded, lead or run is unknown. If there is some sort of military structure it is clearly alien than that of humanities military command hierarchy. We also know nothing outside of their society's inner workings, other than at around 1944 and 1945 a schism had begun to take form inside the ranks of the Neuroi, but so far there are no further details into this information other than a schism now exists.

One thing of note is that their are a small handful of a few instances in which Neruoi were able to mind-control witches. The exact means and procedures of such a terrifying feat is ambiguous but it's implications are staggering and grim. However, their are some key recurring themes and traits of such cases: often it involves the disappearance of a witch in enemy territory, missing over an extended period of time. Eventually they are found, usually in unrelated locations far from where they dispersed, as well as the MIA having both amnesia and a drastic change of personality. The witch may be able to recall things like, name, rank, homeland, sometimes their current unit and prior unit if they are fortunate, but often they cannot recall the events surrounding their disappearance and the time between disappearance and discovery as well as completely forgetting most if not all their training; such to the point that the Amnesia can render a once competent, talented witch ace to no better than a green trainee fresh in boot camp. In addition, witches under Neruoi mind control tend to be rather dour, severe, stern, gloomy, stony-faced or otherwise grim looking and mildly depressed, and often such is the cases with little to no change in mood or attitude as well as some general confusion as a result of this and the memory loss, though re-learning forgotten military training can occur at surprisingly fast rates, or so is sometimes the case.

Use of brainwashing is implemented as a tactic in espionage: after a brainwashed witch is released to train with other witches their experiences are transmitted back to the Neuroi, which include such things up to and including tactics. Such Neuroi often appear as witches, though they are not of the X-11 class but instead some other iteration, and it was noticed that such Neruoi witches were also assisted by brainwashed witches in battle when they are reveled and the mind controlled witch is outed as being under the Neruoi's domination as both an unwilling and unwitting pawn. While a dire situation trying to deal with a mind controlled witch, a fact that can shake many witches to their core, their have been instances in such cases in which a brainwashed witch was able to be set free from being brainwashed, though measures to do so are likely varied and could prove difficult depending on the situation at hand. Primarily it seems that provoking extreme embarrassment in the brainwashed witch is the more well used and implemented means of helping a witch break free of neuroi mind control though other means fit in the realm of possibility and even the more commonly used technique of extreme embarrassment may or may not always work depending on both the situation and the disposition of the witch.

Of interesting note is that even despite these drastic influences in personalty while under Neruoi brain washing, it seems that aspects of the witches personality, impulses and consciousness can and have surfaced: with the case of Giuseppina Cenni, even despite her being mind controlled by the Witch Neruoi she developed feelings and made romantic advances towards Tomoko Anabuki despite her brain washing and outwardly appearing rather emotionless while doing so and even after being freed of the Neruoi mind control she still maintained her feelings, attraction and romantic advances towards Tomoko. This would seem to indicate that while Neruoi who posses such frightening abilities of controlling mind control can dominate a witches conscious mind, they may be unable to enact partial and/or complete control of a witches subconscious, though even with this in mind it's likely that the Neruoi's will likely muddles, clouds, confuses and overwhelms the witches mind to allow the Neruoi in question to enact enough control of the witch in question to be susceptible to sufficient control.

A final note of interest of Neruoi mind control is how a Neruoi with mind control abilities can effect a witches overall mood and disposition. It initially is questionable why this may be since obviously it usually leaves drastic changes for witches who did not posses such personalities and dispositions to begin with. While some could assume that it could merely be a side effect of the brainwashing due to the way it could effect the witches brain but such an explanation still leaves some details unaddressed and questions unanswered to the point of being unsatisfying. However, this state of personality for Neruoi possessed witches could be interpreted as a reflection of the Neruoi's own personalities, dispositions and even emotions being conveyed through the witch they control: perhaps the reason that witches under Neruoi mind control act so dour, grim and gloomy is that the Neruoi themselves may feel along such lines for some reason? Perhaps their is a general somberness to the Neruoi as a people? In truth though this could be nothing more than mere speculation but such a scenario holds interesting potential in being explored.

One thing that a writer must ask themselves with the Neuroi is as your write your story you must ask: "Just what can I _do_ with the Neuroi?"

The answer is a rather simple one: "Anything you can think of".

The wonderful thing about writing Strike Witches is that the Neuroi are an antagonist species filled with unlimited possibilities. You can literally be as creative as you want to be with the Neuroi, and at least at this point in time you can do as much as you want with them and not necessarily be overly derailing them...unless you decide to "Nerf" the Neuroi and make them weaker than they actually are, in which I will tell you this:

No. Do not do that.

It is important to know that while in the anime they may _seem_ like simple "monsters of the week" to defeat easily, they are in fact anything but. While there are many Neuroi who take standard forms that fulfill specific roles in more humble roles, there are others that are extremely unique. Even if they still maintain an air of mystery; Neuroi can be given a sort of "personality" or "character" through subtle means of how they act, react, behave and vocalize. With the Neuroi subtle nuance is key in these areas should you decide to maintain and capitalize on their mysterious nature. Also note that in the anime series alone that two witches of the 501st were nearly killed because of their engagements with the Neuroi. In the movie Yoshika was seriously wounded and bloodied severely. And in each instance the wounds were not played up for anything other than very serious, heart stopping drama. There have been a few cases were Neruoi had even killed witches in combat, as hinted at in the Misfits Light Novels and other sources.

Part of a good story, aside from good heroes, are good villains. A hero is only as good as their villain, so to have a poorly written or alternatively poorly developed villain would make a rather mediocre hero and a rather week story. Part of the strength of the Neuroi is their power, their numbers and the threat they pose, which in turn challenge the hero's and provides a substantial obstacle to overcome. Another thing of considerable weight is the mysterious and alien nature of the Neuroi. If Neuroi can do things as shoot lasers, assimilate human technology, change the landscape or even in a few rare, documented cases of mind controlling witches; it's quite possible that the Neuroi are capable of things that have yet to be seen or conceived. Can they cross between dimensions, for example? It's been alluded to and hinted at in the 1947 Semi-cannon short story and art works known as "Cold Winter" that the Neuroi can even turn a witch into a Neuroi herself (specifically of an X-11 Class Witch Neruoi) . So just what other powers and abilities are the Neuroi capable of?

Although this will be expanded upon in a later chapter is that to keep in mind that the Neuroi managed to take over the majority of Mainland Europe, the western hemisphere of Orussia, the Northern Hemisphere of Africa, possibly even many heavily fortified and enforced parts of the Pacific. Although the Anime downplays this, do not think for a moment that the Neuroi aren't a real, dire threat: the fact they have taken and held the territory in only such a short time like they have shows without outright telling that they are a dire threat to take seriously.

One thing to address is how to look at portraying a Neuroi's power. Although this has been off handily mentioned in a couple previous chapters in this guide (and will likely be mentioned again later as a friendly reminder) despite what little is known of them: the Neuroi are known and established as a very real, very dire threat to mankind. Their nature is one that is clearly one of strangeness; but a strangeness that brings with it danger. They are powerful enemies in battle: mundane forces can throw themselves in mass at the alien invaders and be completely crushed by the enemy. Powerful battleships of the second world war that can bring to bear more firepower then any modern missile carrier, can fire full broadsides at Large Neuroi classes like the one seen in the 1st season of the anime and do little to no damage.

The exact details of the state of Neuroi held territory like Ostmark and Berlin; the heart of Karlsland, are only glazed upon. From what it's described in particular source materials the lands of these and other nations held over long periods of time turn sickly and quite literally grey, life seemingly being changed to sickly and dying states. Some regions have been turned into lifeless, barren wasteland. Wither it's a by-product of stripping resources or if perhaps it is an environment Neuroi prefer... or perhaps even both, remains to be (once again) mere Conjuncture. Recently conquered territory and regions are overcast with dark clouds of Neruoi hives, and it's not all uncommon to see the results of Neuroi warfare scar countryside's, townships and even cities, with destruction and ruin being left in their wake. At times Neuroi fortifications and defenses are seen being erected.

That being said, it appears that there may be detractors within the Neuroi's ranks. Could it be that there are Neuroi who vie for peace and co-existence, or perhaps a mere ceasefire if nothing else? The reasons for why this development is now occurring is an interesting one to explore. Although there are likely a lot of possible theory's into the schism of the Neuroi's ranks, what can be said is that regardless of the questions that stem from this development is that the catalyst for the schism is thanks to the actions of Yoshika Miyafuji, although it may also be that after centuries of trying that some Neuroi may feel that the fight with humanity may be getting to be costly by the advent of the late 1940's as a possible contributing factor. Could that mean that there may be Neuroi who may work alongside humanity and witch kind? Could Yoshika's actions changed something in how some Neuroi view humanity? Was the Neuroi that copied Yoshika also inherit some of her personality, thoughts and memories and end up sharing them with some of its kind? Just what sort of events could occur from this happening? Or could the defectors face persecution from the rest of their kin? Would this result in a purge for the Neruoi seeking peace? Will any of them survive this purge? What would humanity do about it, if anything? That will be questions that can be potentially explored by the authors of the Strike Witches fanfics.

One thing of note is that there are some humans in the military chain of command that are fueled by a little bit of desperation but mostly by resentment of witches and the fact they must rely on magical girls to gain decisive victories who believe that the answer to defeating the Neuroi is though using the Neuroi themselves: by turning the powers of the Neuroi against each other. Such lines of thought have resulted in the Warlock Project and the Yamato Neuroification project, pushed forward as plans to defeat the Neuroi once and for all. However, it is clear from the end results of these plans and where they stem from that they are seen and depicted as both bad and wrong. And thinking about the fact that a Neuroi's Core is basically the heart and brain of a Neuroi in addition to both attempts failing on epic scales; it can be safely said to be also very clearly stupid.

On the other hand Yoshika's desires and attempts at making peaceful contact while to many sound like a crazy, even insane course of action, the results and overall from how it's being shown: the question of wither this is the right or wrong thing to do is left to be more ambiguous.

Ultimately where you can take the Neuroi in any given story arc of a fanfic is completely up to you, just be creative and be sure to be unique and fresh. Wither the Neuroi are a people that humanity can bridge the divide with or are an army of malevolent conquerors out to destroy humanity and purge any weak peace seekers within the ranks of their kin is in your hands. All possibilities can be explored and questions are awaiting you to answer...

Or perhaps not... sometimes the best choice is to leave such questions unanswered... and have the mystery remain as such?

For what is more terrifying than fighting something you cannot understand or comprehend? To fight something you know nothing about? Something with a nature that breaks the mind and power that towers over one as small as a mere human solider of any given nation? Where an army of hundreds upon thousands can march forth and be only consumed by the legion of horror that you cannot fathom in mere hours or minutes if not seconds in massive swaths of superheated weaponized light... your only salvation is to send magical girls... mere children... into the maws of alien nightmares.

What can strike fear in the heart of humanity or the reader than such a story of war horrors...?

But again... that's up to the fan writer to decide...

With the Neuroi you can either explore the possibilities that lay within the ranks of the Strike Witches World's Alien opponent and to answer age old questions, or playing up the mystery and danger of an ancient enemy that remains unknowable and requires humanity to send it's chosen witches to defeat once and for all and bring peace to a war torn Earth.

Whatever way you chose to depict the Neuroi always ensure to still capture the power of the aliens of lasers and steel. Neruoi are the foil to the Strike Witches. Will humanity ever find victory and peace? Will they eventually be overwhelmed and consumed by the mysterious aliens? Or much like Batman and the Joker will Witches and Neuroi be locked in constant battles and struggles to survive... for eternity?

Only time will tell...


	8. Chapter 8: The World Part 1: History

Chapter 8: The World Part 1: History

The history of the Strike Witches world is one that is rife with richness and vibrancy. More importantly it is also one of divergence. The history of real life and the history of the Strike Witches world is one that shows great variation when the two are compared. Events that have occurred in our world occur differently in the Strike witches world. The Strike Witches world is an alternate history: where events were changed, altered, influenced and steered in ways that make the Second World War different to that of the Second Neuroi war. And this is not simply limited to the presence of both Witch-kind and the Neuroi (although both do play a big factor). Even some events that are similar or near identical to the historical events that have come to pass in real life do possess some divergence.

As mentioned in the First Chapter research is vital for writing stories and that still stands in regards to Strike Witches stories, but unlike in the case of researching WW2 history and warfare for the sake of portraying realistic battles of the period, in the following three chapters of this guide research is important alternatively for the sake of understanding and comparing events of ancient history and the manner in which the events of real life would have altered, changed, diverged or otherwise influenced world events, geography and culture differently and to draw comparisons between Real life history and Strike Witches history. While it would be commendable for someone to go out of their way to absorb all of mankind's ancient history and would serve to flex the intellectual muscles of history buffs wishing to explore the potential of stories that take place in ancient and past Strike Witches world history due to these changes in time; a basic understanding would be able to suffice and looking into the much larger, key events would serve a new or inexperienced writer well in trying to world build a 1930's to 1940's era "Hard-Cannon" Strike Witches fic or world build for a more modern "Hard-Cannon" Strike Witches fic and will certainly help fan writers better in the realm of world building. Even than I still encourage those who feel less inclined to research in more in-depth, comprehensive and detailed information on the ancient history of the world to bone up on a little history regardless: it's an amazing and humbling experience; some of the things you stumble across researching what happened in the ancient world, and to see some of the echo's of those events from across the sea of time still felt to this very day and would serve a writer well to acquaint themselves with.

If we are to look at the history of the Strike Witches world we must first look at the overall time line and see what events occurred up till the tail end of the Second Neuroi War and touch upon what these changes in history are and what the significance of these changes means. We will explore the greater implications and ramifications of these events and the impact they had on the Witches World in Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 Regarding Physical Geography of the Earth, the territories that were drawn up and the Culture, Politics and overall society's of the world respectively. As a side note the material and discussions in chapters 8, 9 and 10 may show some overlap in some areas but this will be necessary to fully explore, examine and explain the overall "world", "universe" and "Lore" of strike witches.

An important thing to note before continuing is that some of the details listed in the subjects following chapters 8, 9 and 10 may feature some admitted measure of inconsistency noticed by myself and other more critical members of the series regarding subject covered in chapters 8, 9 and 10 and such points and subjects will be brought up explicitly as such. One final disclaimer is that any sensitive subjects brought up in Chapters 8, 9 and 10 are simple relaying of research information in regards to Strike Witches Historical, Cultural and Geographic lore which is based on study, observation and educated guesswork of such elements of the series and are purely stated for academic reasons and I hold no ill intent in such points being brought up for discussion.

Provided below is a Expanded historical timeline that chronicles the events that follows the Before Caesar (BC) calendar and the Epoch (please note that the following timeline is a cannon transcript of the currently established official timeline, subject to addendum's when future additions of historical events are announced or detailed in other source material as well as major recent events in future strike witches media that is considered cannon) :

753 BC: Foundation of the city of Rome

550 BC: Foundation of Persia by the Achaemenid Dynasty

525 BC: Darius I unifies the Orient

509 BC: Beginning of Roman republicanism

500 BC: Persian War (~442 BC)

431 BC: Peloponnesian War (~404 BC)

334 BC: Alexander's eastern expedition

306 BC: Alexander unifies the Orient

272 BC: Rome unifies its peninsula

264 BC: First Punic War (~241 BC)

218 BC: Second Punic War (~201 BC)

202 BC: Battle of Zama

168 BC: Battle of Pydna

149 BC: Third Punic War (~146 BC)

Carthage collapses

060 BC: First Triumvirate

058 BC: Caesar's Gallian campaign (~51 BC)

044 BC: Caesar escapes from an assassination crisis

027 BC: Caesar receives the title of Augustus

004 BC: Octavianus receives the title of Augustus

0000: Augustus revises the Julian calendar

From here on the epoch begins

0029: Kaii emerge in the Roman province of Judea

The Judea region dies out

0079: The northwestern section of Australia dies out

0097: Kaii emerge in Pompeii

With the eruption of the Vesuvius volcano, the city dies out altogether

0226: Establishment of the Sassanid Dynasty in Persia

0293: The Imperial Tetrarchy of Diocletianus

0375: Escaping the pressure from the East, the Germanic people seek asylum in the domains of the Roman Empire

0395: The Roman Empire is divided into Western and Eastern

Activation of the anti-Eastern defense network, Romanization of the Germanic people.

0486: Clovis I is enthroned Emperor of the Western Roman Empire (Roma-Frank Dynasty)

0527: Iustinianus is enthroned Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire

0660: Around this time, Kaii frequently emerge in the Middle East region

The Middle East (outskirts of Iran, Iraq) dies out

0768: Karl I is enthroned Emperor of the Western Roman Empire (Roma-Caroling Dynasty)

0843: Break up of the Western Roman Empire

0862: Foundation of the Novgorod Kingdom by Rurik

0962: Foundation of the Holy Karlsland Kingdom by Otto

0987: Hugh Capet is enthroned King of Gallia

1038: Establishment of the Seljug Dysnasty

1096: First Rätsel Punitive Expedition

1190: Establishment of the Germania Knights

1206: Genghis Khan is enthroned Emperor of the Mongol Empire

Afterwards, East and West collide with the Kaii

The Qafqaz (Caucasus) region dies out

1224: The Mongol Empire battles the Kaii in South Russia

The South Russia (Don River basin) region dies out

1241: The Mongol Empire, together with the Germania Knights, battle against the Rätsel in Wahlstatt

1242: Establishment of the Hansa Alliance

1339: Hundred Years' War between Gallia and Britannia

1455: Wars of the Roses

1480: Independence of the Grand Duchy of Moscow

1488: Bartolomeu Dias discovers the Cape of Good Hope

1492: Columbus discovers the New Continent

1498: Vasco da Gama discovers the maritime route to India

1519: The Magellan fleet performs a circumnavigation

1582: In Fuso, after the Incident at Honnou-ji, Nobunaga escapes to the West and joins with the Hideyoshi army

1588: Fuso achieves a nation-wide unification thanks to Nobunaga

The Armada's Naval Battle

1596: The Netherlands advances into the Orient, having Fuso mercenaries as its vanguard

1600: Britannia establishes the East India Company, clashing with the Fuso forces hired by the Netherlands

1620: An influential warriors company of Samuri from Fuso founds the province of Mizuho (瑞穂国, mizuho-kuni) in the North Liberion continent

1649: Britannia temporarily switches over to republicanism, but the Restoration occurs in 1660

1661: Louis XIV's direct rule in Gallia

1676: First Britannia-Fuso War

1683: Second Britannia-Fuso War

1699: Fubu (扶武) Alliance (Fuso-Britannia Alliance)

1707: Establishment of the Kingdom of Great Britannia

1756: Seven Years' War

1763: Treaty of Paris ~ reconciliation between Britannia and Gallia

1765: Magic Power Revolution due to Britannia's Watt (The Witch Jeremy Watt discovers a technique to amplify magic power with a steam engine)

1775: Liberion War of Independence

1776: Liberion Declaration of Independence

1789: Washington assumes the office of First President of Liberion

Gallian Revolution

1804: Napoleon is enthroned Emperor of Gallia

1812: Napoleon's Black Sea Expedition; encounter with large-scale Kaii

1814: Napoleon is overthrown; the Congress of Vienna is held

1830: The July Revolution in Gallia

1853: Crimean War (large-scale Kaii emergence in the Crimean area)

1861: Liberion Civil War

1866: Karlsland Succession War

1867: The Empire of Fuso switches over to parliamentarism

1869: Inauguration of the Suez Canal

1870: Kaga (狩我) War (Karlsland-Gallia War)

1871: Establishment of the Karlsland Empire

1903: December; Liberion's Wright Sisters invent the aeroplane (a boarding-type, motorized aeroplane)

1904: Large-scale Kaii emergence in the Fuso's costal waters

1914: Outbreak of the First Neuroi War

1917: Close of the First Neuroi War

1920: Establishment of the League of Nations

1929: Global Economic Panic

1930: London Naval Treaty

1936: Joint development of Striker Units begins in Britannia

Miyafuji Ichiro goes to Europe

July; small-scale emergence of Kaii in Hispania

The prototypes of new model Strikers that adopt the Miyafuji Theory are completed in many countries

The Fuso Army officially adopts the Ki-27

1937: July; outbreak of the "Fuso Sea Incident", in which Kaii emerged in Fuso's offshore sea and the Fuso Navy Fleet carried out a meeting engagement

July 7; as Witches of the Fuso military enter in battle, Sakamoto Mio and Takei Junko volunteer to become Witches

August; the Fuso Navy gives orders for the trial manufacture of the 12-shi Carrier Fighter Legs

Adolfine Galland participates of the Fuso Sea Incident as a observing officer

1938: In many nations, the mass-production of Striker Units that adopt the Miyafuji Theory gets up to speed

Witches display a great performance in the Fuso Sea Incident.

Hispanian forces destroy a Neuroi in cape Palos (Almeria).

1939: August 18; a notice about Dr. Miyafuji Ichiro's accidental death reaches the Miyafuji family

September 1; Neuroi begin the sudden invasion of Ostmark (outbreak of the Second Neuroi War)

Same month; Ostmark falls

October; the European Dispatch Corps departs from Fuso

Sakamoto and Takei are transferred together to the Libau base as part of the Ken'ou (遣欧) Fleet

November 10; formation of the Suomus Independent Volunteer Air Squadron (Misfits Squadron)

November 30; Neuroi begin the invasion of Suomus (Winter War)

1940: January(?); Slussen falls

February 5; Slussen recaptured

March(?); a copy of mechanized air infantry by the Neuroi emerges in the outskirts of the Kauhava base in Suomus. Brainwashing, intelligence gathering and skill absorption abilities are confirmed

Longest Evacuation War begins

May; Operation Small Bifrost is implemented - the populace is evacuated from the suburbs of Berlin

June; the Karlsland Imperial House evacuates from Berlin - the Elbe River's defensive war begins

September; Neuroi invades Egypt

1941: January; Operation Great Bifrost is implemented - a large-scale evacuation war from Karlsland unfolds

May 26; Operation Dynamo begins - Karlsland, Berlin falls

June; Paris falls - establishment of a provisional Gallian government in Vichy

Minna , Barkhorn and Hartmann retreat to Britannia

Perrine and Sanya retreat to Britannia

June; Operation Barbarossa begins - a counteroffensive from the northern districts towards the north of Orussia

Operation Typhoon is implemented - a counteroffensive from the Black Sea area and the Orient towards the center of Orussia

Petersburg liberated

Tsaritsyn liberated

Summer; the organization of Joint Fighter Wings by the Allied Forces begins

Formation of the 31st Joint Fighter Squadron Afrika

Winter; interruption of Operation Barbarossa and Operation Typhoon

1942: Summer; Battle of Halfaya Pass

1943: May 22; Air Commodore Adolfine Galland performs a test-flight with the Me 262

Afterwards, she proposes its manufacture in an imperial conference and Frederick IV accepts it

1944: Miyafuji Yoshika receives a letter from the late Dr. Miyafuji Ichiro

Miyafuji Yoshika goes to Britannia

Roughly one month later than the above; Miyafuji Yoshika enlists in the 501st Joint Fighter Wing

August 16~18; a Neuroi that mimicries Witches appears

September; the Neuroi are annihilated from the entire Gallia and the 501st JFW is disbanded

1945: March; Miyafuji Yoshika and Yamakawa Michiko graduate from Yokosuka 4th Girls-only Middle School

Miyafuji Yoshika once again receives a letter from the late Dr. Miyafuji Ichiro

Spring; a gigantic Neuroi's hive appears in the Romagna's airspace. The 504th Joint Fighter Wing engages it and becomes out-of-combat

Same Spring; Miyafuji Yoshika and Sakamoto Mio depart to Europe in a large-sized flying boat

The 501st JFW is reformed under the orders of the Allied Forces General Headquarters

May 16; Minna is awarded with a Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern due achieving a shot-down record of 200 units

July; The Neuroi are completely annihilated from the Venezia and Romagna airspace. The 501st JFW once again disbands and Miyafuji Yoshika uses up all her magic power in this battle.

Yoshika is returned to Fuso. The other witches of the 501st are deployed to separate fronts in Europe with Minna, Erica and Gertrud deployed to St. Trond Base in Belgica. At some point Heidemarie W. Schnaufer is transferred to St. Trond Base to serve under the command of Minna Wilcke.

August:Minna, Erica, Gertrud and Heidemarie have been deployed to St. Trond Base for half a month. Ursula's sister arrives to conduct tests of new experimental equipment including a newer prototype of the Me262 striker that was given modifications to mitigate earlier problems and safety issues. During testing it's determined that while magic consumption of a witches stamina is vastly improved, acceleration speed, altitude climbing speed and turning radius sacrifice significantly to do so, though top speed is still high. Weapon power is also quite improved but is woefully inaccurate, in addition the Striker itself lends itself to specific flight safety instructions and specific, micromanaged operation in order to fly without causing trouble for jet-powered mechanized air infantry. Other striker and weapons tests are conducted, an incident occurs during testing a Bf-109 Zwie Link piloted by Erica and Ursula caused by Erica's negligence and not following safety testing instructions or protocol.

A day later a Neruoi's presence is reported: identified as an arieal scout but this was a miss-identification on the part of allied intelligence: the enemy Neruoi turned out to be an Ariel combat platform when contact between the Minna and Gertrud by the enemy was made. During the sortie Ursula was forced to deploy with the Me262 since her Bf-109 was not yet repaired. with some assistance from Ursula fielding an HE-162 Ether Jet Striker, Minna and Gertrud were assisted in battle and the enemy Combat Neruoi was successfully destroyed.

Some time later Ursula returns to Neu Karlsland with the results of her testing data to further calibrate and test the Me262 and other experimental equipment. Minna, Erica, Gertrude and Heidemarie return to normal operational duties.

Sometime after the last entry in the timeline is when the events of the movie take place as will the upcoming OVA's, and during the time presented at the end of the movie is when Yoshika regains use of her powers and the 501st is, once again, reformed.

All this is historically chronicled information that included most of the main historically noteworthy events up to the end of the second season. Also while some topics will be briefly touched upon in this chapter, their broader implications and ramifications on a geographic and cultural level will be expanded upon in chapters 9 and 10. With the these events in the timeline having been chronicled there are several pieces of noteworthy information regarding the history of the witches world.

A piece of information that is of quick note before the main divergence in history is that in the First Spear Strike Witches Doujinshi (which are endorsed as cannon) that when Ancient Egypt was at the height of its empire from 1550–1069 BC during the New Kingdom, at one point the empire attempted to seal away a massive nest of "Monstrosities" (their name for the Neuroi), the plan involved sealing the Neuroi inside of the city, and made the name of the city a secret; banishing it from history so the seal could hold and remain unbroken by those who would stumble upon it. that would come to be called "The Coloseum", "The Anonymous Metropolis" and "The Pyramid with no name". There are no further details but as the Neuroi's presence in this timeframe prior to 0029AD or any other major appearances they have made and were the most active seems to possibly indicate that the Neuroi appeared on earth in mass either in this time frame or perhaps sometime earlier and could hint at a major campaign made by the Egyptians that caused considerable damage to the Neuroi in which it took a lot of time to recover, although it was likely such attempts to seal and eradicate the Neuroi of old came at massive cost and sacrifice. Also possible is that it could have been a small force of Neuroi or perhaps some other possibility regarding humanities first contact with the Neuroi . It's also possible that Neruoi may have always had a presence on earth even after the sealing of the city of the Pyramid with no name but was until 0029 very limited and sporadic or otherwise limited to very small scale encounters, but the truth of the matter is that it may never been known for certain, it is up to interpretation and drawing one's own conclusions.

The main, starting point of branching history can be found with Julius Caesar surviving his assassination and being crowned Augustus of Rome in ancient Romangna, possibly allowing for Rome to continue as a powerful superpower of the ancient world in its own right for much longer than it would have in real world history. While Roman culture still had place significance in history, it was probably had deeper and much broader influence in the West of the Strike Witches World and some of the events that occurred in the witches world in comparison to real life likely hold deep standing consequences in the years to come.

Another very telling thing about the historical timeline of note and of which is a topic of some argued controversy between some members of the fandom and is a very serious event in both regarding historical consequences and generally in terms of any sort of possible implications (wither actual or perceived) is that in the Strike Witches timeline during the year of 0029AD marks the first appearance of Kaii in human history, in the Romagnan province of Judea, which we would know in real-life as ancient Isreal. More importantly: in roughly a little over a mere month the people of Judea die out; the entire region purportedly being left devoid of any human life. In other words the hub and birth place of many Judeo-Christian Religious ideologies like Catholicism, Judaism, Christianity and any religious theologies that come into being in 17th century or later like Methodism, Anglicanism, Lutheranism and other such faiths that found their origins in Western Judeo-Christian Religious ideologies would have likely died or not come into existence with the loss of Judea and its people, if it's believed that the Kaii managed to successfully wipe the entire inhabitants out and none were able to make or survive long enough to enact any form of mass exodus. Conversely, although the likeliness of such being of much debate and unlikely due to context; if there were any small number of survivors of a small, limited or late exodus would have left the people's and the religions of Judaism and Catholicism either severally weak and crippled and their influence and power much weaker and subdued at best or become in essence a pair of functionally dead religions at worst; the last followers of these theologies being the final generation and practitioners of such religious faith left scattered amongst the sands. The consequences of the fall of Judea in relation to Strike Witches historical lore and the likely extinction of or slimly possible heavy diminishing of Western Judeo-Christian based religions it spawned in both the short term and long term will be explored in Chapter 10.

While somewhat minor but still noteworthy regardless, in 0097AD Kaii emerge in Pompeii and shortly their after with the eruption of the Vesuvius volcano, the city dies out altogether. While in real-life Pompeii was a natural disaster that befell the great city and its people, the question of the relevance and correlation between the Kaii's emergence and the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius is up to speculation if ancient Neuroi may have directly or indirectly caused the eruption or if it were a case of very good, very coincidental timing in play, which of these cases it may be is up to debate, speculation and interpretation.

Another, much larger key moment of note is that around 0660AD in which Kaii frequently emerge in the Middle East region and in this time the we see the middle east, more specifically the outskirts of Iraq and Iran succumb to the same fate as Judea centuries before and die out. And if we follow the likely possibility of the peoples of the Middle East being wiped out without any exodus taking place at all or in time than that would be a possible indicator that many Islamic religions and subsequent offshoots may have also have been lost as a result, with the peoples of these regions either promptly meeting their end at the hands of the Kaii, or alternatively if there were any number of survivors than we would see Islamic based religions weakening into mere shadows of their former selves or only being practiced by the last few generations from the regions cast out into the wastelands around them. And much like with Judea and the religions that were born from the region the details regarding the consequences regarding the fall of the Middle East and the likely extinction of or slimly possible heavy diminishing of Middle Eastern Islamic religions in both the short term and long term will be explored in Chapter 10.

Another of the major divergences in history is in 1096 in which First Rätsel Punitive Expedition at the Hands of the Holy Karlsland Empire. A few key notes regarding this particular point in time is that compared to historical events in real-life which saw the many lengthy, bloody, religiously motivated Crusades that consisted of 3 large scale crusades and six smaller, separate crusades that lasted 200 years which started under orders of the pope in 1095AD. In the Strike Witches worlds history, however, we instead see a massive punitive campaign of eradication of the Neuroi of old that took the forms of monsters. Secondly while it may have been possible for some sort of "Holy Empire" to still exist in Karlsland, judging solely off the name of the "Holy Karlsland Empire" it likely would not have been a Holy Empire that originated from Western Judeo-Christian Religious ideologies and instead may have found its roots in some form of Germanic paganism and judging from the events seen in the anime it seems that Germanic paganism may have settled into being a highly progressive, moderate and secular belief system over time, and likely wouldn't be what most people would be familiar with or recognizable from the more main stream and high influence religions we know in real life. The question of wither this Germanic Paganism is still practiced and if so to what degree is up to debate and interpretation.

Of further note is that upon review of the keystone events of the world that involved conflict nearly every war that featured human on human warfare was rather short and much less bloody compared to our worlds history save for the hundred years war being the only apparent example of a long, bloody war. Also of note is that most of these wars of humanity with itself is that many of the wars do not seem to be religiously motivated but instead are appearing to be motivated by territory expansion, grabs for resources, control and rule of countries, social and finical troubles, political motivation or in the case of Liberion and other countries; fights for independence and autonomy. This as well as the resulting influence and implications will be discussed in depth in Chapter 10.

Aside from points in history involving the Neuroi there have been other events that come to pass worthy of note that carry with them possibility. Besides the ancient wars of man fighting each other are also the possibility what role that the witches of ages long passed have done in such times. What's more the events of the Magic Power Revolution in 1765 which in real life history was merely the Industrial revolution and the advent of the steam engine. And while it's likely that around this time the invention of the steam engine may have played a very important role in the witches world, it likely would have been overshadowed when Witch inventor Jamie Watt (based off of the inventor of the steam engine James Watt) discovered a technique to amplify a witches magic using a steam engine, which likely was also of her creation. This would likely opened up the possibility of development of archaic, steam powered striker units not long after, which would allow for a great deal of exploration as writing material. Of note here is that upon the advent of the 17th centuries birth of the first steam powered "Watt" striker unit would also seen as when the Neuroi would become far more active and much more organized than before in history, possibly indicating the Neuroi would have recognized that Strikers Would be a game changing trump card in humanities arsenal.

As an additional note that was brought up to me that I feel like I must comment on: judging from the wording on the time line during the 1929 "Economic Panic" of the time it seems that while it certainty had the potential of becoming exactly like the "Great Depression" it was possible that may have almost become the depression outright but the response of the worlds governments may have been able to react quick enough to barley avoid the Great Depression and at best able to find a way of stabilizing the world economy, or at worst would have resulted in a short recession. Than again it's also possible that the Great Depression proper did come to pass in the Strike Witches world, but the wording is suspect and the exact details into the events of 1929 are not fully known or chronicled, so really any absolute answer is difficult to give but I think it's possible that the world governments in the SW world may have been able to at least cushion to some varied degrees the events of the Economic Panic of 1929. Not very change to the Strike Witches historical timeline was restricted to mere warfare. Sometimes divergence can be found in economics and other moments of time beyond merely the battlefield.

Overtime, as much as the peoples of Earth have fought with each other, it seems that the presence of the Neuroi has drastically changed world events. And ultimately despite times where humanity had once quarrelled with its brother and sister humans it seems that one thing had always brought them together and prevented them from demonizing and dehumanizing each other to the most deep and stark of degrees after all is said and done: fighting true monsters that have marched forth to try and devour them. An enemy which humanity can unite and fight against and to remind mankind how costly the price of war can be all though-out man's existence on the pale blue dot called Earth: the dire threat posed by the Neuroi's ceaseless push.

While there are many different consequences regarding the way the world of the Strike Witches verse was shaped one very big one that what should be made readily obvious but is one that fanfic writers often overlooked and I feel I must mention is that while the events of the Anime, Movie, Doujin and light novels take place during the 1940's: The Nazi's never came into existence into the Strike Witches World as a result of the way history had been shaped since the event's responsible for contributing to their formation have been eliminated in the Strike Witches World and their fore their existence in the Strike witches world makes no real sense. The reasons as to how and why this is the case and what was responsible for the formation of the Nazi's in real life will be expanded on in Chapter 10 seeing as it will be a topic relating to culture, but I will say that the main reasons that contributed to the formation of the Nazi party involve: The treaty of Versailles, economic disparity in Germany, a lack of viable resources and agriculture and ultimately finding a perfect scapegoat to pin the blame of all the nations hardship on and playing off of base human fears, frustration unfounded bigotry, racism and the key persons responsible being out of place for them to otherwise spark the creation of this infamous stain on humanities history and the resulting pain, bloodshed and monstrous horrors they caused and inflicted.

While there will be much more lore of the world to explore and much greater implications as the consequences as to the presence of both Witches and Neuroi to examine in the next chapters, this chapter will serve as a reference point and as an inspirational tool for those wanting to write stories in the ancient times passed in the witches world or as resource to better help those wanting to craft "Hard-Cannon" and "Semi-canon" fanfic stories that take place in the 1930, 1940's or in the Modern Millennium of the Witches world.

Always remember; the Strike Witches World is a world possessing an alternate history. Shaped differently by the Witches, the Neuroi and the many events that have come to pass in its past. Every possibility that plays out has consequences both in the immediate and the long term. Every action, big or small, leaves an echo across the sea of time. 1940's of this world is far, far different from the one that came to be in real life, so be sure reflect that in some way in your stories.

All it could take is one small, brief moment in time... to change the entire course of history. And that still holds true in a world where witches are a fact of life and where aliens of steel march the war path.


	9. Chapter 9: The world Part 2: Geography

**Hello everyone, it's Bucue here.**

**I would first like to start off by apologizing to my readers for my inactivity as of late. I have been busy taking a class of Basic Security Guard Training and working hard to gather and fill-out forms for my security license and become a certified security worker, on top of other, various commitments that have been filling my time, in addition to facing some difficulty in writing the next chapter of WR141. My Basic Training course is now finished however and I am now getting closer to finishing the next chapter of WR141. I'll also be continuing work on Ludwiga's short story "The forsaken Daughter" and hopefully I can now get into a better writing schedule once I get my groove back. **

**As another piece of news I will also be adding an occasional bonus chapter or a few in my how to guide that will cover topics that have not yet been listed in the first chapter since a few things had only just came to mind that I wanted to quickly cover, so expect a few of those as well: the chapter after chapter 10 will be a bonus chapter that will focus a bit of Familiars themselves as well as a bit of information involving the place of spirits, fairies, and other creatures of myth, legend and folklore in the Strike Witches Verse.**

**Also of note is that I have made a few revisions to some of the previous chapters once information regarding the Strike Witches verse became available to me, please be sure to give some of the chapters a quick re-read. The Chapter on Striker Units faced the biggest revision since I found a reliable source online that was able to provide me with the names of the various striker manufacturing company's; so be sure to check it out. **

**Again I'm sorry for the wait, and I hope this Chapter of the how to guide is of help to everyone. It feels good to get back into the swing of things. Everyone have a very happy holidays and for those who aren't currently snowed in: stay frosty.**

***Edit* May 15,2015: one of the nations that I had overlooked due to lack of translation located in Europe was an nation south of Ostmark called **** Macedonia. It's been added to the list for the sake of complete chronicling of the listed nations in the witches world.**

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How to write a Strike Witches Fanfic: Chapter 9: The world Part 2: Geography

What is Geography?

Geography can best be described as a field of science dedicated to the study of the lands, the features, the inhabitants, and the phenomena of the Earth, and is overall an all encompassing science that explores many different sub categories relation to the field of Geography. And the Geography of the Strike Witches World is quite to some degree or another vastly different than that of our own world and yet in some ways also remarkably similar in others. The focus of this chapter will primarily be upon all matter of Strike Witches world's Physical Geography not simply touching upon the names of the Countries but a little bit of the Geomorphology (study of land forms), as well as to some degree Climatology, Meteorology, Topography, and Biogeography (study of the distribution of species and ecosystems; although in all honesty due to time constraints on my part these will not be covered in too much depth; so I recommend looking for further research materials to draw more information from in these specific areas.

While Geography is an all encompassing science I will only be focusing on the above fields (albiate in a extremely limited fashion) in this chapter so as to maintain proper detail for fields of culture, politics, socioeconomic, economic, agricultural, industrial, social and military development, commerce, ethnicity and theology for the following chapter. This chapter, unfortunately, will have major focus on the countries of the world and identifying what their respective real world counterparts are. Also note that some of the terrine, natural biomes and climates of the nations, if mentioned would be borrowed from sources on public domain, although these will only be sparsely detailed for this chapter and admittedly any information regarding actual terrine and climate of any particular nation is simply speculated as identical or near identical to that of its IRL counterpart, except filtered through the SW lens with some alterations to a degree due to the various factors that shape the Strike Witches World, which in and of itself is speculated on but would make a reasonable amount of sense from a standpoint of educated guesswork is concerned. All the same: it should all be taken with a grain or two of salt since some elements being presented in this chapter fall under some degree of speculation. Lastly I want to thank BbK2442 for the assistance he gave me in the translation of some of the Strike Witches World Altus: his knowledge of the Japanese language was valuable and indispensible for me in filling out this chapter for the fan writers and other fans of the series and I'm grateful for his patience; I give my sincere thanks to him for his help. With that complete: we shall begin.

The overall physical Geographical state of the world is in some way's very similar to that of real life during the period, however there are also several very key differences, which will be chronicled based on relation to the specific hemisphere and even further narrowed down by country, and are not limited simply to mere borders of a country either. To start with the Eastern Hemisphere, more specifically the continent of Europe; is at least relatively speaking mostly unchanged from that of the real world save for perhaps a few minor cosmetic changes in terms of land mass and overall shape as well as the overall layout of each countries boarders being quite different.

So as to help clarify the method in which nations of the Strike Witches World are mentioned and showcased, the Strike Witches inverse cannon nation will be mentioned first so as to help establish and chronicle the known nations of the Strike Witches World and what they are called. Each nation will in turn be followed followed by brackets that help identify the nation or nations, as the case may be, of our real world countries that make up the nation in question to help in gleaning a better understanding, context and scope of the SW world's nations respective territory and how far their boarders would extend.

The Geographic details of each of the European nations, ranging from the following nations in Strike Witches (confirmed through translation of official World Atlases) and their respective nations in Real Life as: Brittania (The UK and Ireland), Hispania (Spain), Gallia (France), Karlsland (Primarily Germany but also incorporating Poland further eastwards), Ostmark (Austria-Hungary), Venezia (Parts of both Northern Italy and Yugoslavia), Romagna (Italy), Moesia (Bulgaria), Belgica (Belgum), Dacia (Romania), Baltland (Consisting of Norway, Sweden and Demark), Soumus (Finland), Orussia (Russia), Lusitania (Portugal), Helvetia (Switzerland), The Republic of Malta (Malta), Netherlant (The Netherlands although in some sources it also is referred to as "The Netherlands" as well as Netherlant so it's likely that it's referred to as both in universe), Macedonia and of course Greece which remains the same as it's real life counterparts name: are assumedly for the most part very similar to their 1930's to 1940's era selves much like in real life, or so it can be assumed to some degree at least in regards to physical geography.

I'd cover all these factors and elements in this chapter myself in far more detail but to do so would demand a lot of time and chronicling that would eat up a lot of time and space that would be better spent covering other material; so instead I will provide whatever relevant, keystone or otherwise noteworthy information in this chapter wither by comparing and contrasting a nations real world counterpart or alternatively through observation and hypothesizing given observable cues, evidence and sources. I highly urge everyone reading this guide to read more into the physical geography to these nations and research these respective nations of the time period online to better grasp all the broader and finer details in regards to their real life counter parts and how to incorporate and detail them into your stories, as this chapter, as well as the guide, will only cover the particulars of physical Geography, and occasionally the topography within the context of the Strike Witches World when compared to the nations of Real Life and cite information gathered and hypothesized in that regard.

However while there are certainly a high possibility of most of the nations having a striking similarity to that of their real life counterparts (which can be found though Wikipedia or other reference sources or by watching any WW2 period war film), there are some notable exceptions and finer details that I will note here that are worth mentioning in this chapter. For nations that are not delved into in further detail, assume that they are at least somewhat similar to their Real-life counter parts and then take into account the presence of both Witches , the Neruoi and the overall nature of the Second Neruoi War and the worlds history in any process of world building for them.

The first example of this would be the nation Ostmark, which prior to Neruoi invasion was known as a nation that consisted of plains and hills, lakes, rivers and springs, with cold winters and warm to hot summers and unpredictable distribution and frequency of rainfall, some mountains in the east (With weather conditions of Ostmarks Great Plain can be especially harsh, with hot summers, cold winters, and scant rainfall), while in the west can be found The Danube River, which has its source near Donaueschingen in southwestern Karlsland and flows through Ostmark before emptying into the Black Sea, as well as the three major Ranges of the Ostmarkian Alps: the Northern Calcareous Alps, Central Alps, and Southern Calcareous Alps and these three Alps are the highest regions in Ostmark. Also found in the west of the country are some hilly regions, the various forelands, lowlands and of course the Bohemian Forest.

The nation of Ostmark was one of the first in Europe to fall to the Neuroi in the 1930's to 1940's and did so in a short time: a month as matter of fact, even despite the massive effort of the soldiers and witches in Ostmark to hold back the Neruoi onslaught. While the soldiers and witches were present in the nation during such time they were deployed nominally for observation and unfortunately for the most part did not play an active role during the month long siege. With the Neuroi having a massive, aggressive invasion that originated from along the Black Sea Region (specifically beyond the Scythian along the Southern Bug River), which would also have involved a massive push in both mass and force through Moesia and Dacia to get to Ostmark. Wither this push was made from underground, overland and sky, if a trek was made either across or along the River Danube or some combination of these particular means is up to debate, speculation and interpretation but I digress.

To the point: due to the strategic nature of Ostmark both Geographically and regionally as well as the fact it was a rich source of metal and mineral resources, meaning it was a valuable asset to both Humanity and the Neuroi: the nation was very a key point, although it is questionable if some people realized this at the time of just how important Ostmark was. Due to this fact it was highly likely that Ostmark was hotly, heavily contested by its people and as a result was ravaged by intense warfare by both humanity and the Neuroi: meaning the landscape and cityscapes would be heavily battle scarred, and upon getting forced into a hasty evacuation and delaying action it's likely that many weathered, abandoned battlefields may still be present in Ostmarks boarders; it's very possible that in this last evacuation that the people of Ostmark could have been unable to retrieve their fallen civilians, soldiers and witches, assuming of course Neuroi laser fire didn't completely atomize them during battle, or Neruoi bullets didn't completely shred the bodies of those fighting and/or fleeing.

Upon falling to Neuroi control the nation was than filled to the brim with hives: acting as a buffer zone for Neuroi to spread to, advance upon and reinforce neighboring countries and regions, making for a place ideal for Neruoi to produce more combat platforms with little worry of reprisal or concerns of attack; meaning that a great deal of Neruoi "nurseries", "gardens", "flowers" and "breeder class Neruoi" are at full production capacity bringing more Neruoi Cores into the world while under the watchful care of the hives and their kin. Due to the high concentrations of Neuroi hives and Neuroi themselves, it's likely Ostmark was made into what could be akin to a forward staging area for the Neuroi to deploy and build up their numbers, as well as a production power for the Neruoi to breed more of their species. The massive processing and striping of resources from Ostmark would have made Ostmarks combination of wide open planes, fertile soil ideal for agriculture, lush sandy areas, wastelands, and swampy areas, hills, moderately sized mountainous forests, alpine forests, hidden villages, municipalities and town ships in the valleys, the Ostmarkian Alps and the Bohemian Forest likely reduced to mere shadows of their former selves: the land processed and prepared for Neruoi to shape the land to what they would prefer or to prepare gathering resources and to develop save regions to birth more of their kin. In addition regions that already had drastic weather changes pre-invasion would have likely have been greatly exacerbated thanks to the Neruoi post-invasion. It's debatable wither the numerous historical Ruins of Ostmark survived the occupation thus far, although it's likely only few have, if any have at all: either destroyed completely or some of it's ancient castles assimilated or otherwise copied by the most powerful of the Neruoi to be made into Ziggurat class platforms.

Some speculate that the vast majority of Ostmark (or at least most of the center and outlining areas surrounding the center of the country) was either made sickly to the point of being difficult or impossible to support human or any Earth based life due to the Neuroi's occupation and resource gathering, or in fact has been turned into an alien wasteland: but that is uncertain to say for sure due to the lack of solid Intel and the vast number of Neuroi Hives and combat platforms that impede intelligence gathering so that would be left to the discretion of the fan writers own drawn conclusions. It wouldn't be too far to suppose that the nation would also be filled with a very thick blanket of miasma; wither in moderate to heavy part or in near entirety. If there is any life left it could be found only on the very boarders of Ostmark or occasional spots that are either of little interest, are difficult to prepare and process, or possible places that have ancient wards in place to prevent Neuroi incursion and encroachment in the regions in question but this is extremely unlikely for the latter scenario, and even these areas that would be remotely habitable would likely be seeing signs of turning grey and sickly, the blight progressing the further into the country one travels. To walk into Ostmark by 1945 would be to walk deep into hostile, enemy territory and even into an environment that might look little if at all like the earth humanity would normally know; and even if it were, it would be still seen as a sickly, dreary, depressing and horrifying corruption and ever increasing blight of what was once to many Ostmarkians home, in addition to having extremely visible remains and battle scaring due to the nature of war. That's also not including the constant looming threat of Neruoi at every turn, wither from hives and nests or to some of the most strange, unique, powerful, dangerous combat platforms and an abundance of flowers and breeder class Neruoi (or so it can be speculated). While there is not as of yet any cannon or semi-cannon source material showing Ostmark post invasion: it is assumed that the state of the region inside of Ostmarks boarders is not very pretty, and saying this would probably be a gross understatement.

The next nation of note is Karlsland. Elevation ranges from the mountains of Karlslands Alps (highest point: the Zugspitze at 2,962 metres (9,718 ft)) in the south to the shores of the North Sea (Nordsee) in the northwest and the Baltic Sea (Ostsee) in the northeast. Between these points of elevation lie the forested uplands of central Karlsland and the low-lying lands of northern Karlsland (lowest point: Neuendorf-Sachsenbande at 3.54 metres (11.6 ft) below sea level), traversed by some of Europe's major rivers such as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe. Farther east of Karlsland is a region consisting of a mostly temperate climate, unbroken plains reaching from the Baltic Sea in the north, to the Carpathian Mountains in the south. Within that plain, terrain variations run in bands east to west. The Baltic coast has two natural harbors, the larger one in the Gdańsk-Gdynia region, and a smaller one near Szczecin in the far northwest. The northeastern region also known as Masurian Lake District with more than 2,000 lakes, is densely wooded while being sparsely populated. The central lowlands had been formed by glacial erosion in the Pleistocene ice age. Wetlands and marshy conditions are found close to the border of Karlsland and the Netherlands and along the Frisian coast.

Sandy Mecklenburg in the northeast has many glacier-formed lakes dating to the last glacial period. Moving south, central Karlsland features rough and somewhat patternless hilly and mountainous countryside, some of it formed by ancient volcanic activity. The Rhine valley cuts through the western part of this region. The central uplands continue east and north as far as the Saale and merge with the Ore Mountains. Upland regions include the Eifel, Hunsrück and Palatine Forest west of the Rhine, the Taunus hills north of Frankfurt, the Vogelsberg massif, the Rhön, and the Thüringer Wald. South of Berlin, the east-central part of the country is more like the low northern areas, with sandy soil and river wetlands such as the Spreewald region. Southern Karlsland's landforms are defined by various linear hill and mountain ranges like the two adjacent ranges of the Swabian and Franconian Alb (reaching approximately from the source of the Danube in the southwest of Baden-Württemberg, south of Stuttgart, across Swabia into Central Franconia and to the valley of the river Main) and the Bavarian Forest along the border between Bavaria and the Czech Republic. The Alps on the southern border are the highest mountains, but relatively little Alpine terrain lies within Karlsland(in southeastern Swabia and Upper Bavaria). The Black Forest, on the southwestern border with Gallia, separates the Rhine from the headwaters of the Danube on its eastern slopes.

While most of Karlsland would look similar to a lush, clean German countryside in most of the country with villages, town ships and perhaps the occasional city, the further you'd get to Berlin the more sickly and battle scarred the area would likely get, in addition to the massive number of Hive's and Nests that are densely packed in Berlin, as Berlin would be akin to being a heavily fortified and defended garrison. By Orussians they would have referred to Neuroi occupied Berlin as Berloga: "The Beasts Lair". It can be ventured that parts of Karlsland are possibly at least in far better shape compared to Berlin and the surrounding areas around Berlin and such regions are either in allied hands to various degrees (although it's very likely such regions are few and face heavy, frequent assault, with both Karlsland and Liberion troops being hit exceptionally hard) or is hotly contested by humanity and the Neuroi, and by Karlslanders in particular, perhaps even some regions constantly being brought under control of humanity and then the Neruoi the next; regions constantly being flipped to control of either side of the war . The very common Karsland Hedgerows and forests would mostly be lush and would provide ample cover for humanity and Neruoi alike. Due to the nature of Operations Small Bifrost and Large Bifrost many Karlsland civilians, military personnel and witches were evacuated when Karlsland was on the brink of falling to the enemy, meaning the overall loss of civilian life was likely at least relatively speaking pretty low during such evacuations, although before and during these evacuations the Karlsland Military would have faced its share of casualties, although not nearly to the level as it was for Ostmark, in addition to the fact these evacuations were quite large scale and hectic. Prior to these evacuations and the Karlsland militaries attempts at halting or at least delaying the Neruoi advance would have been very intense and dire, with substantial casualties even prior to the evacuations. However, due to the evacuations, it's likely that most of the civilian and military dead (or what was left of them) were evacuated along with the living, but it's likely that some may not have been able to survive the battles prior to evacuation or the evacuations and delaying actions as they took place respectfully.

Gallia as a nation that more or less mirrors that of France; consisting of mostly flat plains or gently rolling hills to the north and west of the nation with its lowest point being Rhône river delta and its highest point being Mont Blanc. In addition Gallia would likely consist of a great deal of Arable land (around 33.46%) and considerable renewable water sources; although how many of these water sources are still fit to drink after the Neuroi's occupation questionable. During more extreme weather seasons Gallia would be prone to seeing flooding, avalanches, midwinter windstorms, drought, forest fires in the south near the Mediterranean, and rarely the odd earthquake. Assuming that Gallia faced similar circumstances as to its real life counterpart: by the 15th century, Gallia had largely been denuded of its forests and was forced to rely on Scandinavia in Suomus and North Liberion colonies for lumber. Significant remaining forested areas are in the Gascony region and north in the Alsace-Ardennes area, but overall forested terrine in Gallia would be few.

Assuming that the Neruoi made invasions into Gallia during the first Neuroi War the Ardennes Forest was the scene of extensive fighting in both Neuroi wars. That said during the environmental damage to Gallia during the Second Neuroi War in the 1940's seems to be either very small or nonexistent despite the Neuroi's occupation, looking rather vibrant, healthy and lush and looking nothing like a sickly wasteland. This would seem to indicate that while the Neuroi have managed to take and hold the nation of Gallia with a hive and establish a considerable garrison that they were not able to actually begin preparing the land for mass production, processing or long-term occupation; likely due to how frequently, aggressively and actively the Allied command of humanity are deploying both their mundane and witch forces to Liberate the region.

Romagna is mostly similar to real life Italy: encompassing a terrine of mountains forming the backbone of the peninsula as well as plains with the Po Valley being the largest accounting for 70% of the nations plains. It also possesses many rivers, several islands and some volcanoes, with Etna being the highest, active volcano. To the north are a number of large lakes. It's coastlines are also very beautiful and the seas warm. As for local resources it has a great deal of agriculture and lumber as leading resources being the highest is concerned. In addition, due to the fact it was once the hub of western civilization in Europe's Mediterranean the echoes of ancient Rome can still be seen in the 1940's wither in ruin or in fairly good condition with many manmade marvels like the Coliseum, the ruins of Pompeii, and Cascata delle Marmore waterfall being some of such marvels of the beautiful nation. However one major divergence is that, given the fact a hidden underground passage and ruins were found underneath the 501st Romanian base, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume that there are other such underground ruins in Romagna that were made by witches of old, and given the fact that ancient Rome was a super power and thus may have had many ancient witches in its employ and rule: it's possible that there are many more of such underground ruins to be uncovered beneath Romagna.

Hispania possibly shares particular similarities with Spain so information regarding Spain can be found in Wikipedia articles and other sources although one thing of note is that going off of this assumption that Hispania in some regions is vulnerable to floods and erosion, while in general also suffering from water stress during the hotter months in the south-east while areas around the Mediterranean could face being affected by saltwater intrusion. The climate seen in Hispania would primarily consist of and be characterized by dry and warm summers along the Mediterranean, as well as semi-arid and oceanic climate depending on the region.

Orussia is a large, expansive nation famous for its frigged cold winters. The nation for the most part would be very similar to Russia's overall physical geography and overall climate. Three very well known locations in Orussia's borders are Libau, Reval and Petersburg (since Christianity has faced either massive decline, faced with massive change and became much more secular or had disappeared outright that Saint Peter has not found sainthood in the Strike Witches verse and thus the city wouldn't have the "St" in its name but still appears to at least the man it was named after must still have been of some great influence in history despite this). Also of note a Neuroi hive has appeared about where Moscow is located in real life. As a result, the area west of the Ural River is occupied by the Neuroi. Currently, Orussia is the main force participating in the Eastern front while being supported by the Fuso Empire. It's likely that the Eastern front is hotly contested and is heavily occupied, with the nation being faced with constant, persistence and frequent open warfare and skirmishes. However, there is limited information as to Orussia's overall status and painting a picture of what the Eastern front in a way that is accurate to the actual verse of the series will require some measure of divination and hypothesis.

Brittania's overall physical geography, divining what we know of real world Britain can be assumed to essentially be that of 1940's Britain. Diversity of fauna is assumed to be great, the region possessing many different animal species, with the Flora also being quite diverse, many of which are well known to the Island. The Geology would likely be diverse, with varied landscapes: possessing rolling hills and lush countryside, fjords along the west coast, rivers, lakes including the great Loch Ness, artificial waterways, heavily indented coastline, likely many small islands around and in its waters and a generally temperate climate . In general the south of the country is warmer than the north, and the west wetter than the east and more than 50% of the days will be seen with an overcast of clouds

However one key feature of note is that Brittania sits a bit wider and slightly shorter than Britain proper. It also appears that the Northern Region of what would feasibly be the Scottish Highlands, sits a bit shorter than that in comparison to that in RL. Although their hasn't yet been any official information yet regarding the regions that would consist of Scotland, Ireland and Whales; it's assumed that these regions would be similar to their respective counterparts. For these regions names there is nothing quite definitive but it's possible that the Strike Witches version of Scotland is Caledonia, with the people likely being known as the Scots given real life historical information. However, what is known thanks to translation is that in this region are two very well important cities: Glasgow and where Edinburgh roughly should be is a place called Townhouse, assumed to be major locations in this part of the Brittanian island. Until the official name can be confirmed; it's possible that the Strike Witches Version of Scotland is Caledonia, Ireland could possibly be known as "Éire", "Ierne", or "Scotia" , or perhpse something like "Iernenland", depending on which era in history the nation is interpreted by; although it's likely that the names "Hibernia" or "Hiberian Ile" are accurate since Hibernia was the name that Julius Caser used to refer to Ireland by and due to his influence in the ancient world and the fact he survived his assassination and the role he played in world history of the world it's likely that the name Hibernia had stuck. It's debatable wither the people of Hibernia are called Hibernian's or are still the Irish or go by some other name but that would depend on which name and source information you follow, though there may also be some number of Celts and Proto-Celts in the region. Wales meanwhile would possibly be either" Inisfail" (The Island of destiny) "Cambria", "Cymru", or quite possibly still being known as Wales like in real life (possibly the later, but this is uncertain), and predominantly featuring the Celts as the ethnic population of majority. These nations would still geographically and climate-wise speaking be much like that to their real life counterparts.

Nations such as The Republic of Malta, Venezia and Greece, while not only share similarity's to their real world counterparts during the time period, judging from some of the source material when Greece made its appearance in the First Spear Doujin that apparently there are quite a few old buildings and structures from centuries ago that are still standing. Some, like the Greek style open baths are still used. Other buildings and monuments of times past are likely well preserved as historical monuments and heritage sites, although it's also possible that others are in complete ruin or are buried beneath the soil and waiting to be unearthed: either by the hands of humanity that built them and gave them life or by the ports of the Neruoi to either tear asunder or to twist to their own use.

The other nations of Europe, in terms of overall geography and climate: would be similar to their Second World War counterparts, or so it's assumed. Therefore it's best to, once again, keep that in mind when it comes to world building and developing set pieces for backdrops in Europe and to look to other sources to flesh out the finer details. Also be sure to, once again, keep in mind the Neruoi's presence in some of these nations and how the Neruoi could have influenced and impacted these nations respectfully wither it be through raids, invasions or form of occupation. Dependent on the region there may be hidden ruins or place where Neruoi of old have been sealed away from ancient battles long past. At this time there is limited note on the other nations, so any future information and developments in these areas will be added to the guide when they appear. Also of note is to also keep in mind the roles that witches have played in the world and the ways they have influenced the world: leaving behind legacies that could lay buried by the sands of time or may stand proudly even up until the second Neruoi War; regardless of where and when these witches left their mark.

From there we move south to the continent of Africa: which consists overall of a massive land of vast, yawning, sandy, blistering deserts and equally vast savannah grasslands and a small rainforest belt around the equator, being home to many different, exotic species of wildlife and vegetation. The countries of Africa that are currently known consist of: Tunisia (same as real life Tunisia), Numidia (Algeria), Morocco (same as real life Morocco but with far less territory), Mauretania (same as real life Mauretania), Cyrenaica (Libya), Egypt (Consisting of Egypt and the Sudan), The Kingdom of Aksum (Consisting of Eritera, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and around 60%-65% of Northern Somalia), Ouedraogo (Consisting of Mali, the eastern and south eastern parts of Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Cote D'ivoire, Burkina Faso, and Ghana) The Kingdome of Kongo (Consisting of the Republic of the Congo, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Uganda, Rwanda, and the Northern half of Angola) , and finally South Africa. (Consisting of South Africa itself as well as parts from the southern regions of Namibia and Botswana and the entirety of Lesotho). While the it seems that the island of Madagascar is also present, it's currently one of the as of yet to be named regions officially, so it's unknown if it still goes by Madagascar. The only other historical alternative name for it would be The Merina Kingdom but at the moment that is to be taken with a grain of salt.

The Sahara Desert is a wide open battle theater; the largest desert in the world reaching from the Atlantic to the Red Sea. Despite the massive number of Neruoi nests, outposts, and the occasional hive in the Northern regions of the continent, due to the layout of the land in Africa: humanity is able to fare well in a fight against the Neuroi in comparison to other battle theaters thanks to the terrine providing easy acquisition of targets and clear lines of sight and clear fields of engagement in most open fields, planes and deserts that allow humans to engage at range to attack the Neruoi while the Neruoi are forced to close the gap to get into effective range to attack humanity themselves. Artillery and anti-armor guns (AKA anti-tank guns) are used in mass and quite liberally by the allied forces, being able to bombard enemy Neruoi unit's and advances without fear of the shells air bursting, and defensive positions are commonly defended by Minefields. That said The Northern regions of Africa are heavily contested and face frequent attacks, raids and occasional all out invasions. In addition, one thing about Africa thanks to the wide open terrine it allow the Neruoi to field the largest, most massive, most durable and most powerful of Neuroi Ultra Heavy Ground Platforms and also permits the deployment of massive "hoards" in the range of up to about anywhere between several hundreds to possibly even verging upon thousands of Neruoi due to the wide open terrine, that necessitate the use of multiple witch units and support, in particular Mechanized Armored Infantry units and of course from the Famous Tiger Heavy Tracked Legs.

In addition the hot climate of Africa makes oasis's, wells and other water sources very valuable for humanity to keep, hold and utilize. Water is a precious resource on the African Front, and a human army will not last long without it. Expect to find many open deserts and savannah, cramped, winding and narrow canyons, rocky mountains (Its highest mountain is Mount Kilimanjaro),fresh, cool rivers and lakes (its largest lake is Lake Victoria and its longest river is the Nile), the Suez Canal serving as a major supply and navigation route for supply, merchant and warships alike, various islands, the coastal plains, the Atlas range and of course it's small but lush rainforest along the equator. The weather is extreme; ranging from blazing hot daylight hours and monsoon seasons.

The climate of Africa lends itself to certain environmental diseases, the most serious of which are: malaria, sleeping sickness and yellow fever. Malaria is the most deadly environmental disease in Africa. It is transmitted by a genus of mosquito (anopheles mosquito) native to Africa, and can be contracted over and over again. There is not yet a vaccine for malaria, which makes it difficult to prevent the disease from spreading in Africa. While witches with healing magic would help in the treatment of people suffering from Malaria, they would be greatly overtaxed trying to keep up the large number of people suffering from the ailment. Yellow fever is a disease also transmitted by mosquitoes native to Africa. Unlike malaria, it cannot be contracted more than once. Like chicken pox, it is a disease that tends to be severe the later in life a person contracts the disease. Africa itself makes for a very challenging place to live for peoples either indigenous to the continent or for those who have come from foreign lands to serve upon and hold the African Front.

The next region of the world we will look at will be the Asian Continent and the countries that make up the other half of the Eastern Hemisphere. The Nations that are currently known make up the Eastern Asian Hemisphere include: Ostman (Which consists of each nation that resides on the Arabian Peninsula, including Saudi Arabia, a small part of Western Iraq, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Kuwait, Jordan, Syria, Turkey and Cyprus; although Judia, being the SW version of Israel unfortunately, as has been previously stated, was wiped out by the Neruoi; possibly leaving empty desert or perhaps is itself made into a haven for Neruoi but in all honesty this is unknown), The Eastern region of Orussia, Persia (consisting of Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan), The Commonwealth of India (a parallel of real-life India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka), The Great Mongol Empire (Consisting of parts of Western China and Northern Tibet, Xinjiang and South Western Mongolia), The Commonwealth of Burma (consisting of Burma), The kingdom of Siamro (consisting of Thailand and parts of Burma), Australis (consisting of Australia and Tasmania) and Kiwiland (consisting of New Zealand and its overall realm consisting of Tokelau (a dependent territory); possibly the Cook Islands, Niue (self-governing states in free association with New Zealand); and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealand's territorial claim in Antarctica).

While a part of the Eastern Hemisphere: Fuso receives special mention seeing as it consists of the Fuso empire itself (Consisting of Japan), a large island to the south-east known as the South Sea Island and a territory in Orussia under dominion of Fuso known as Urajio (consisting of Vladivostok). During the Azuchi period, Fuso discovered a new island in the Pacific Ocean. Because it was larger than the Fuso mainland, had abundant underground resources and was mostly an uninhabited region, this island was transformed into an overseas territory under the name of South Seas Island. Thanks to an influential daimyo immigrating to here in the early 17th Century, it developed into an important supplier of resources for present-day Fuso. The capital city of the South Sea Island is Shinkyo. At the time of writing this chapter it's unknown how or when Urajio was established but what is known is that is an important port city filled with merchants, traders, markets and is a very busy merchant city and bears the usual trappings of primarily Fuso society and culture, and due to the immediate proximity some of Orussa as well; although the later is far less noticeable). Urajio is seen as a very important supply line and trade route for goods across what is known as "the Empty Desert Region (which consists of the majority of Eastern China, Eastern Mongolia, all of North Korea and 50% of South Korea; specifically the Western Regions) and supplies are usually shipped to the frontlines in Orussia and other regions in Asia. From what it has been seen some of the backdrops topographies and geographies of Fuso seem to incorporate both Feudal Japan and 1940's Japan in terms of the styling's and trappings and overall architecture depending on the region. There are also a healthy number of Shinto and Buddhist shrines and any handfuls of Neruoi of old that may have wandered onto Fuso were sealed away in pocket dimensions in eras long gone. Due to the magical powers of Fuso's witches and dogged determination of these witches and warriors of old such Neruoi would have caused, relatively speaking, marginal damage.

A quick note that is worth mentioning is that depending on the sources or the continuity a fan writer follows: the Northwestern region of Australis has either died out into barren wasteland (current cannon) or has vanished completely (ret-conned cannon), both examples attributed due to Neruoi Invasion and resource gathering activity, the event responsible having occurred during 0079 A.D (as was mentioned in the previous chapter). Also the prominently noted city that is in the atlas is Albion (Sydney).

For Persia the only city that is currently marked clearly on world atlas's is Ctesiphon (Bagdad). The Capital of the Great Mongol Empire is Khüree (Ulan Bator).

Due to the invasion of Kaii that invaded in 0660 the regions of Persia that made up Iran and Iraq having died out; it's debatable wither the regions were safe or capable of re-colonization of humans, if they have now been resettled or if this region of Persia is reduced to desolate and inhospitable wasteland, or perhaps simply open desert. As of yet there is no information to confirm things one way or the other so a writer may have to rely on existing geography sources of real life nations or flex their creative muscles themselves and envision just what may be.

In addition there are a few important notes: the first being that while most of the other regions in Asia seem to be devoid of any clear naming: due to the fact that the Kukri exists(known commonly in universe as the Ghurkha knife)it's very likely that the Strike Witches version of Nepal exists. The only possible names for the country that would stand in for Nepal could either be "Pali" or alternatively "The Gorkha kingdom. In truth it's far more likely that the latter name: The Gorkha kingdom, being the alternate name is true.

Another note is that another region that is made reference of is the Federation of Malaya (Consisting of Malaysia) in the South-Eastern Front. In Malaya is the city-state of Singabara (consisting of Singapore) which is found at the southern edge of the Malay Peninsula, and is reported to be infested by a large, heavily fortified and defended hive that guards The Strait of Malacca, as well as a large network of nest and overall large scale strongholds of many different Neruoi platforms: mostly consisting of a mix of both mechanized platforms and beast-like and monster-like platforms. The Strait of Malacca normally would provide a very easy to access and traverse navel route that would save on time, but due to the occupation of Singabara by the Neruoi human trade, supply and war ships are force to take "The Longbok Strait": a detour that takes both time and money to navigate, their fore dictating that the liberation of Singabara and in general, Malaya, to be of high priority to open up, establish and secure more trade routes to the rest of Asia, Africa and even to Europe through the Suez Canal. (Bear in mind Malaya and any lore regarding the South-Eastern Front is at this point only considered Semi-cannon until it can be confirmed that it is in anyway supported and endorsed as full cannon by Shimada).

The next side note for the Asian countries is that while it's unknown wither or not an alternate version of Vietnam exists in the official source material, given as the region has yet to be given any sort of alternative name on an official level from Shimada; attempts at figuring out the status of the region are therefore difficult to discern. While some ancient, historical names for Vietnam include: Xích Quỷ, Văn Lang, Nam Việt, Đại Việt, Nanyue, Âu Lạc amongst others, in the only source material to feature a Strike Witches story with the setting taking place during a Vietnam War backdrop had shown the name of Veitnam in the Strike Witches World to be known as "Vanran" so this name may be possible as a usable name for a Vietnam based front in a Strike Witches Story. It should be noted that the lore involving Vanran and the only story of a "Vietnam Era Strike Witches Story" are only chronicled in the 6th Chapter of the Unknown witches Secret File doujin and is to be considered Semi-cannon at best and have very, very little details overall to the point of being bare bones and of little use in fleshing out the region's lore, history and overall state. Regardless of the countries existence or not the region would probably be thick with jungles and face frequent monsoons.

Lastly, the final note, one that I believe needs to be stressed about the verse's cannon Geography is that it appears that China itself wither as China of our world or Manchuria of ancient history, or even all of North Korea or even most of South Korea: in fact, does not exist in the Strike witches World. Instead, outside of some regions where china would be being a part of the Great Mongol Empire, in truth, in the place of these nations their is instead, as of the current official cannon of Strike Witches: a massive region simply known as "The Empty Desert Region" the question of wither China may have existed in the time during Japan's warring states period and a time after, or if it never existed at all: varies from source to source to the point of being hard to verify... ultimately, as far as the historical lore is concerned, at some point after the Waring states period and before the events of 1904: china no longer exists: replaced with a vast empty desert and the peoples and cultures that would make up the Chinese demographic in Strike Witches are found to be residing only in the Great Mongol Empire. In older, rectconned Strike Witches World cannon the geography of this region the very land that made up these regions no longer exist at all; replaced instead with a vast inland sea when the Neruoi made their attempts at stripping the land back in the ages of antiquity to the point where the land fell into the ocean, though this inland sea also included the majority of the middle east. But as of the current cannon, the geography shows that while these lands do still exist above the sea, that they are not the same as they are in our world with the region that would have made up China/Manchuria being the most divergent. The region known as "The Empty desert Region" is mostly an open, empty desert that would likely consist of Alluvium plains (loose, unconsolidated soil), alluvial deposits, hills and some low mountain ranges, some valleys, perhaps the odd, broad grasslands and forests though their condition is likely in a poor state or are changed by the Neruoi to fit their needs and given the implications of the 1937 Fuso Sea Incident it's a region what, while possessing a single, key supply route for Fuso and Urajio to send supplies and troop reinforcement to Orussia, in particular the Ural Mountan front, it is at it's best of situations a long and rather uneventful, if not dismal trip across a proverbial no mans land, but at it's worst endure the middle and late events of the Fuso sea incident it is a highly dangerous route to travel since it appears the entire region at this point was far worse, becoming occupied and owned by the Neruoi, perhaps as the most massive garrison and a place to which the Neruoi can return when the tide of war against mankind fall out of favor. the route is a short crossing, but likely a very tense and harrowing one that allied supplies convoys would have to make. It's likely that many would consider such a trek without witch escort to be nothing short of suicide, and even with witches it is likely a trip made grudgingly. Neuroi presence is likely dense and aggressive with probably only few openings and time periods in which would allow for the allies to send supply's to the Orussian front. The Empty desert Region prior to the Fuso sea incident seemed to be implied to be not very populated, mostly consisting of a few bases and some defensive lines. However, after the events of the fuso Sea incident, while the Neruoi's advance on Fuso was halted after much effort and casualties: the state of The Empty Desert Region and wither Neruoi still infest the region in some number or another is uncertain.

The next set of countries to be found are those in the Western Hemisphere. To begin with we will look at the North Western Continent as our first starting point, which theirs is a great deal to talk about. To start, the counties of North Liberion include: Faraway Land (consisting of Canada, it's provinces, Territories, Quebec , Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Greenland), The United States of Liberion (The United States of America, Alaska, Hawaii and the country also has five populated and nine unpopulated territories in the Pacific and the Caribbean) The Caribbean consists of places like Cuba, Haiti, The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and some of the other Caribbean and tropical islands South of North Liberion's shores although the question of wither the names of these particular island territories of Libeiron and Countries that neighbor it and the rest that make up the Caribbean Islands being the same as Real-life or being different in comparison to it are yet to be seen or confirmed, and Asteca, or alternatively Asteka (consisting of Mexico and most parts of Guatemala and Baja California as well as some parts of the states of Texas, parts of New Mexico (or in the Strike Witches World's Case: New Asteca), and parts of Arizona).

Of all the nations of the World the continent of North Liberion is by far the most obvious and drastic divergence geographically speaking in the Strike Witches World compared to its Real-life counterpart. Some would say that it would be extreme, even ham-fisted in nature: whereas most nations of the world would for the most part face only changes simply in the drawn up boundaries in their countries territories with the Geography being changed very little, North Liberion's geography is by far the most polarizing and unique in that the whole continent looks a great deal like an upside-down star. In addition the Californian Baja is considerably shorter to that of its real life counterpart; as a result the same can be said for its Gulf. Faraway Land is shown to be cut in half; with Quebec and the Maritime Provinces being separated from the rest of the country by a drastically, differently shaped Hudson Bay. The USL itself is also bizarrely shaped in its territory, between both Asteca and Liberion Occupied Maya is a noticeable body of water that is theorized to be the equivalent to the Panama Canal but is likely not referred to as the Panama Canal at all. Overall aside from these major changes the nation would otherwise have the same topography to its real-life counterparts.

The currently known listed cities and locations of Liberion, starting on the east cost, include: Chicago, Detroit, New York, Boston, and Washington D.C. Shirly's hometown of Myra and the Bonnivile Salt Flats are also listed on the map. However, the west coast is where things take a bit of a divergence. The next couple of cities include Seattle, the city of Long Beach (basically Los Angeles in all but name only), Toumika (San Francisco) and Shindati/Shindaty (composing of either northern California or southern Oregon, or alternatively a transplanted Sacramento or Portland or perhaps even some combination thereof, though determining exactly which it is is difficult to definitively ascertain).

Judging from the fact that Toumika is a name of Japanese origin, it is likely that the region of the city was established by Fuso in some point in time, While it can't be said exactly when Fuso settled Toumika it's supposed that the fact Fuso didn't adopt any sort of isolationist policies as a nation and became a world trading power may have been a factor. As for the why it was likely to help establish and promote a strong trading relationship and general commerce with Liberion.

Two cities that are clearly listed in the world Atlas in the country of Faraway Land are Montreal and Ottawa respectively, so it's possible that the other cities may also remain similar to that of their real-life counterparts, though their may be exceptions that may in all probability exist, given what is known of Liberion's West coast cities.

The next is South Liberion which consists of: Liberion Occupied Maya (consisting of Belize, El Salvador, Honduras and parts of both Nicaragua and Guatemala), Tawantin Suyu (consisting of Peru, Bolivia, Chile and parts of southern Columbia) , Amazonas (Consisting of Brazil and all of its states), and of course Neue Karlsland (consisting of Argentina). The only drastic change to South Liberion compared to South America is towards the Northern half of the Region; being large and thick in size and shape compared to that of real life. It also appears that Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador and Venezuela, Guyana and the rest of Nicaragua are a single, large and as of yet unnamed territory. Both Suriname and French Guiana together comprise a small but also as of yet unnamed territory. Paraguay and Uruguay are also unnamed regions in the Strike Witches verse. It quite possible these two regions are basically regions of as of yet untamed Jungles but that has yet to be confirmed.

Their are three particular cities that are listed clearly: In Amaazonas; Frankfurt Am Tiete (Sao Paulo), and in Neu Karlsland; Neues Berlin (Nuenos Aires), and Judenbelda (Cordoba City).

Lastly there are the polar ice caps encompassing both the Arctic and Antarctic although it's safe to assume that due to the environment and the lack of any useable resources that either humanity or the Neruoi could use: the polar ice caps are in fact of little use or interest to either side.

Last of note is of course the oceans, seas and various bodies of water that cover the planet. The Ocean's include the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Antarctic Ocean and Arctic Ocean. All the Ocean's, seas, rivers and lakes of the world for the most part are very similar to that of their real life counterparts.

Overall the many nations that make up the world are rich and diverse, with history that is deeply steeped. Every nation has a story and serve to help set stages for the people who inhabit the world. With the nations being as they are it shows just how different in some ways the world is from our own. And yet at times there are similarities between the two as well. Hopefully the chronicling of the nations, countries, continents and regions of the Strike Witches world will serve to help fan writers construct backdrops and stages for the cast of their story to work in and live their lives, as well as providing new ideas for soldiers and witches who may hail from these many nations outside of those we already know in the Anime.

As a side note for these past chapters of History, Geography and the upcoming chapter on the way I highly recommend looking up Extra History on Extra Credits and getting to watch some of their videos that talk about the Second Punic War and the Warring States Period of Japan also known as "Sengoku Jidai" as it would help give very interesting information about the time periods and the events that have shaped history, and may help the readers and writers absorb some of how the world was like back then. The folks at Extra Credits have done very well for the most part in researching for these history videos so be sure to watch them. Hopefully they may help inspire some new ideas or at least provide something interesting.

Having looked at the nations of the world: we will next take a closer look at the peoples of the world. And as always: humanity is a diverse species.


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